


Rabbits and Seals

by GRexCarolinii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Faerie AU, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, I hope >.>, Loneliness, M/M, Multi, Short Chapters, Slow Build, klance, klance faerie au, might edit tags?, rivals to friends, secrets causing angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-29 21:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12094164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GRexCarolinii/pseuds/GRexCarolinii
Summary: Faerie AU inspired by catnippackets on tumblr! :3Lance is a lost selkie who has managed to get himself stuck in a small forest lake (it's more of a glorified pool to be honest).He just about gets by with visits from brownie-Hunk and pixie-Pidge. But it's not enough to get him out of his rut.Until he finally catches the eye of the mysterious pooka who likes to sit above the water.But there's little time for slow bonding when the fae-forest is thrown into turmoil and Pidge brings back news of her missing brother and his friend, Shiro.





	1. The Lost Pup

**Author's Note:**

> Saw [this](https://catnippackets.tumblr.com/post/164701847635/faerie-au-which-is-just-an-excuse-to-make-the) and had to write a fic :) 
> 
> Hopefully I'll keep this up (comments and likes help feed my muse!).  
> Be warned I err towards shorter chapters by nature ^_^

Anyone passing through the forest, who happened to spend too much time by the clear pool of water, would certainly question the fauna living there.  
After all, seals were expected by beaches and the sea. Not small freshwater lakes tucked within inland forests. And yet, flouncing within the still waters, amongst the reeds and fresh lily pads was Lance. To the untrained eye; a seal.  
To anyone who knew any better; they would know Lance for what he really was. A selkie; albeit a slightly lost one. Hunk was one such person, most likely because he too, was a fae.  
Hunk was a brownie, humble, and mostly living amongst the townsfolk, though they rarely knew it. He took great enjoyment from helping them when he could; small household tasks here and there, and would often receive small tokens in the form of food as a thanks. From the few older townsfolk who still held some semblance of belief in the fae and faeries of the forest the town sat adjacent to. Even those who didn’t truly believe still held the forest in some high regard, rarely daring to travel to far or too deep. The lake where Hunk now visited Lance was just far enough into the forest to avoid most humans, except for the most determined, though it was relatively on the outskirts. Lance had, after all, intended to see the people when he could. He had intended to visit them, maybe even try living with one. His curiosity and desire for adventure had been enough to drive him from his home and his family from the Eastern seas, until he had gotten himself stuck here.

“Hunk!” he cried out, flopping awkwardly onto the beach, blue seal-pup eyes wide.  
“Hey there buddy!”  
Unlike Lance, Hunk could almost pass for a regular human. With only a small amount of glamour to conceal the small blunt horns poking from his hair and jaw, and the rocky markings from his hands to his shoulders, he could easily pass for human. A fact that made Lance very jealous. No amount of glamour could hide his seal form, and well…. He wasn’t the best selkie.  
“What took you so long? I’m sooo borrreed,” he cried at his friend as he rolled over on the rocky sand. Hunk gave his friend’s damp belly a quick pat as he landed on his bum and released the glamour he had been holding up.  
“Well, Lance…” he paused as if debating what he should next say, “I’ve been thinking. I mean, I know i’s your thing. And your decision. But you came here for a reason, right? I don’t want to rush you, but maybe you’ve had time to try again. You got here after all in the first place…”  
Hunk spoke fast, and tried not to watch as Lance visibly drooped in the sand and stones.  
“I have been trying, Hunk. I just don’t get why it’s so hard. I only just made it here, and somehow it’s harder than ever,”

Hunk blinked, though he knew he should not have been surprised. After all, Lance came across as easy-going, but this seemed to be a disguise for how hard he really tried. Still, he had kind of assumed Lance had just settled with staying in the forest lake for the time being, and avoided shape-shifting due to some laziness, or worse, fear of failure.  
Which was half true. Lance was terrified of failure, but he still tried.  
“well. What’s different now do you think?” Hunk prompted, watching seal-Lance wave his flippers in the air as the warm morning sun beat down no them. Lance stretch one webbed flipper up and up, thinking distinctively human thoughts as he imagined what was his own hominine hand in it’s place.  
Hunk let out a small gasp as he watched the brown fur recede into speckled skin, bones stretching whilst fingers shrinking down out of the flippers. For a glorious moment who caught sight of Lance’s shape-shifted hand, before everything about the selkie shudder, and Lance, fully seal once more, led defeated on his side.

“I… think it’s my family,” he said slowly, blue eyes shining. Hunk shifted ever so slightly closer to better hear his friend.  
“they were so… encouraging of me. Going to explore the world, meet more people. Meet more faeries. Maybe even meet humans. But now I’m here and they aren’t,”  
Hunk took a few moments, his brain ticking with a new idea.  
“So really… you are just lonely, right? Not that it’s quite that simple, I guess,” he added quickly, eyeing Lance’s eyes which looked like they would bubble over with tears at any moment. “I know family is more than just company. But friends will help. Hell, we could even become like a second family. After all. Us fae have to stick together after all,”  
“But other than you and that damn pooka…”  
“…pooka?” Hunk frowned. He had honestly thought he was the only one who knew of this rather remote corner of the forest, devoid from most humans and faeries alike.  
“Yeah. I mean. that’s what I think he is. Hard to really tell because he’s constantly glamoured up and all that. And we’ve not… actually… spoken. But he must know I’m here right. You spotted me pretty quick,”  
“have you tried talking to this guy?” Hunk pressed, quirking an eyebrow at Lance who merely sighed.  
“Well, d'uh? But he sits just that little bit too far away to really hear me, I guess. He just… sits there, staring at the water, but not getting too close. A little weird to be honest,”  
Hunk paused for a long while, “are you sure he’s a faerie?” he asked, the slight edge of fear making his voice quiet.  
“I… did question myself at first. Like his glamour is just so good. I mean. Yours is fine, and you can pass among the humans. But I reckon this guy could even trick other Fae. He sure as hell would have me fooled if I hadn’t seen him play around with it. Not enough to get a real good look, but enough to you know… see the fae glamour,” Lance gave a little seal shrug.  
“could always ask Pidge. I mean. I think she knows a couple more faeries in the village; or at least her brother does for sure.”  
Lance let out a small groan.  
“Pidge hates me!” he whined, wriggling into the sand, still belly up. Hunk chuckled.  
“She does not. She’s just… prickly. I would say it’s a pixie thing; but from the little I have seen Matt is softer,”  
“Matt?”  
“Pidge’s brother. I think it’s short for something else, but has the added benefit of sounding that much more human I guess. Either way, I’ll ask about this pooka you’ve been admiring…”

Lance blushed as much as a fur covered seal could, “I have not been admiring him! He’s just been there, and you know how few visitors this pool gets!” he immediately tried to justify himself, though his flustered manner of talking somewhat gave him away. Perhaps the mysterious puca-boy was kinda nice to look at, at the very least, but Lance couldn’t tell much more than that from a guy who never spoke.  
“Hey speak of the devil! Perhaps you can ask yourself!” Hunk cried, as Lance’s heart gave a very tiny flip and he flailed inelegantly in the sand.  
He flipped himself over so the world appear the right way up only to spot Pidge approaching them on the beach. He gave a small sigh as the small pixie picked her way across the sand.  
Compared to either Hunk or Lance, Pidge was tiny. She could just about pass for a small human child with a glamour, but that was the limit. And she needed a good glamour to hide her wings and almost birdlike feet.

Contrary to the stories Lance had heard before seeing a pixie, the wings were not glimmery and intricate bug-like things. They were pretty in their own way, but they more resembled very fine bat wings. In the sunlight, the light would shine through, displaying an intricate map of veins that would seem to glimmer; but that was about it. Lance had not hesitated to signal his disappointment when he had first met Pidge.  
That was probably why she hated him. He had not meant it as an intentional insult; but before meeting Hunk and Pidge, Lance had only ever interacted with his family.  
“Hey Pidge! Great to see you around here!” Hunk cried out, standing up to wave in a very unnecessarily-friendly Hunk manner. Pidge immediately narrowed her sharp gold eyes.  
“You ask me to…”  
but Hunk cut her off, “we were just talking abut you! Well… you and Matt. I mean you spend time in the town right? Like daytime time…” Hunk shuffled from foot to foot. Being a brownie, he mostly snuck about at night.  
Pidge eyed Lance, who seemed as eager to see people as ever.  
“what about it?” she said slowly as Hunk replaced himself back on the beach, and gave Lance’s head a gentle pat. He wasn’t that much shorter than Pidge, though she remained standing. Hunk gave Lance a quick nudge, and Lance returned a glare. Somehow this felt a little bit more personal than he had realised. 

“Just some weird faerie. A pookah, I think. He’s been visiting the lake, but not really doing or saying anything. He just sits there… And Hunk mentioned you, or Matt, might know something?”  
Pidge gave a slightly cackle, “Have you got yourself a crush?” she teased lightly, causing Lance to sputter in his own defense. “N… no! He’s just a bit weird that’s all. Always glamoured, never speaks and…”“Not many people even know this pool is here. And there aren’t many of us left full stop…” Hunk’s voice drifted off,and the three spent a full moment in quiet. It was no secret that the wild places open to faeries were becoming fewer, and the fae themselves becoming less in numbers. But it still wasn’t a topic anyone wanted to address.  
Pidge eventually broke the quiet with a slight sigh. “I know Matt has been hanging out with this pookah recently. He’s almost like some faerie legend, or that’s how Matt talks about him. Master of glamour and disguises. Though I doubt this guy, Shiro, would be your mysterious Pookah. He spends a lot of time with people. I mean I know Matt does too, and more now than ever. Trying to find quiet ways to help us from the human side I guess. But this guy,”  
Pidge just sort of gestured, and somehow that was enough. Hunk and Lance stared at her with wide eyes. “Ugh… I wanna visit the town so bad,” Lance rubbed his muzzle down into the sand, and even Pidge knew better than to mock him.“You’ll get there eventually, buddy!”“Yeah!” Pidge piped up, apparently feeling oddly supportive for once, “maybe you are trying too hard? If you act like you don’t want to shapeshift, maybe it will just… happen,”  
“I’ve already tried…” Lance murmured through a mouthful of sand. Pidge and Hunk cast each other a very quick glance.  
They then proceeded to spend the rest of their time at the lakeside beach joking around. Hunk and Pidge mostly regaling their tales of life in the town to Lance. Whilst Hunk performed his kindly brownie duty, clearing up messes, and picking up odd scraps of food, Pidge spent more time causing very small amounts of havoc. Especially where any machinery was concerned.  
When Lance called her a gremlin, she merely stuck out her tongue. “I am helping them become less reliant on it, and keeping them prepared. "Like a chaos-monkey?” Hunk offered, and Pidge rightfully nodded along. Lance chuckled even though he had  
no idea what that meant. It was nice just having the company for once, and it lessened his regret of ever leaving home just that little bit.  
But not enough so that… he didn’t miss them all the more by the time Pidge and Hunk had left. 

Not that Lance has sufficient time to ponder his own loneliness; because shortly after they left, he spotted a familiar black-haired fae.


	2. The Lonely Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a wee bit shorter  
> hope is ok ^_^;

Keith sighed to himself. 

He liked to come to this pool in the early evening, just as he had now, because of the relative peace and quiet. It was as though noone else knew it was here, on the outskirts of what was commonly thought to be a cursed or haunted forest. Not too far from his shack just on the edge of said forest. He lived close enough to the humans to gain some understanding of them, but far enough because he never quite fit in.   
Keith also came to the lake at this time, because this tended to be when Shiro would leave with his friend Matt to explore the town. They’d start late afternoon, just as the streets were getting quiet, but not completely empty. They’d see enough people then, but not too many.   
Shiro had often invited Keith along, but somehow he hated spending time with humans, for reasons he did not quite want to reveal to Shiro. 

As per usual, Keith had seen Shiro off with Matt, as Shiro had spent the earlier part of the day visiting Keith in his shack. Looking at, but not commenting upon, his weird assortment of various objects from what he considered to be a “past life”.   
After the shack had begun to feel too empty and crowded all at the same time, Keith had travelled out here, relishing the feel of the warm setting sun. However, much to his dismay, there were others at his pool. Upon hearing the voices of two others, he had instinctively hidden himself amongst the trees and bushes. He had likely scratched himself up a little in the process, and knew his hair had definitely now been dishevelled. To his surprise, the pair just now leaving the lakeside were actual Fae. A brownie and a pixie that looked… an awful lot like Matt. But it was too late now to go introduce himself. He did not exactly want any first impression to be him jumping out of a bush, after all. He needed the best first impression he could possibly make. Keith was not always the best at interacting with others. Shiro felt like an exception, but only because he had known the other pooka for so long now. He instead waited just long enough to be certain the coast was clear, before pulling himself out of the bushes, and trying to dust and pick off the worst of the twigs as he made the short distance to the lake. He sat on the side without a beach; where a small hill meant there was a steep bank down to the water, perfect to sit on and have his legs dangling, but all too easy to slip and fall if he wasn’t careful. Keith looked out across the lake as he worked at a very tangled stick in his hair. His eyes were on the furthest shore from here, where he got an all too good view of the sun starting to set. The lake itself reflected the pink and yellow sky as the colours deepened. And Keith could not enjoy this moment because of the damn twig.  
In the end, he lost his temper a little, and felt a little of the control he maintained over his glamour slip. Not enough to fully reveal his non-glamoured self, but just enough that when he realised he was not so alone, his mind went straight to panic.   
“Hey!” Keith had jumped out of his skin at the voice, and forgetting about the twig in his hair, looked around wildly for the source. But there seemed to be noone about.   
“Hey! You’ve still got it stuck in your hair!” Keith’s hand subconsciously went up to the twig in his hair, but he still couldn’t see anyone… on the land. He cast his eyes downwards, but there was noone swimming in the lake apart from... A seal?  
“So glad you can hear me!”

Did the seal just… talk? Or rather, shout up at him. Keith’s eyes went wide, his brain struggling to put the pieces together.   
“Could you maybe come down to the beach so I don’t have to shout?”  
Keith blinked for a few moments. It really seemed as though the seal was talking to him; but did he really want to obey the wishes of a strange seal? Was this normal? The only way Keith was going to answer any questions would be to do as the seal wished, and go to the beach. He had tended to avoid this part of the lake, despite being arguably safer. He was not a huge fan of water, and somehow the proximity was worse than the falling in, despite that being the real fear. 

Yet here he was. Now facing indeed, the talking seal. Keith pushed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he stared adamantly at the small amount of sand.   
“It’s a nice beach, right? I mean. For an inland lake. Or pool. Whatever this is,”  
Yep. The seal was talking and Keith questioned his sanity.   
“It’s not impossible for there to be sand, just not so likely I guess? Though this beach is more pebbles than sand and… can you talk?” the seal had waddled closer, awkwardly dragging it’s body in a way that looked both entirely natural and unnaturally ungraceful at the same time.  
“I have… never seen a seal before. I didn’t expect them to talk quite so much,” Keith quipped, almost flinching at how defensive his own voice sounded. What was that about first impressions?  
Despite this the seal let out a short laugh, not unlike the barking sound Keith had found himself originally expecting. Keith narrow his eyes in annoyance.   
“I’m not a seal, dude,” he finally managed to choke out, and Keith took a guarded step back, “how can you be so good with that damn glamour, and not see that I’m a selkie?”. He seemed to say it in a way that being good with glamours was a bad thing… And Keith wondered if that was some sort of suspicion touching the edge of his voice.   
“I’ve not had a lot of contact with other Fae, ok? Besides. I thought selkie were supposed to be able to shift, right?”  
The selkie let out an undignified huff, before going onto completely ignoring his question. Something that rubbed on Keith’s nerves a little.   
“Not a lot of contact? You come here so regularly, and yet you’ve ignored me so far?” he said, voice getting a little quiet. Keith narrowed his eyes once more.   
“I didn’t see you, ok?” he raised shoulders in a half shrug, “I wasn’t expecting to see a seal, because yes that is what you look like, in the middle on some forest pond,” he didn’t also point out that this selkie could have easily come up to see him in human form. He wasn’t sure he wanted to give him any ideas seeing as how marvellously they had hit it off. At least answer seemed to satisfy the selkie in front of him. The brown head sank down into the sand, and Keith couldn’t help but admire the texture of the fur, though still damp. He almost wanted to… touch… it.   
“I er… can’t imagine you see many people here,” he tried continuing, ignoring the creeping blush up his neck, and pushing any errant thoughts out of his mind.   
“I don’t,” the voice was now quiet, and stung of a very familiar loneliness. The moment sat heavily between the two, before Keith felt those all-too-blue eyes consider him very carefully once more.   
“Though seriously dude. How could you not recognise a selkie? I mean you have definitely heard of us? And us fae should have a sixth sense for this sort of thing, right?”   
Keith eyed him carefully, trying to pick his next words carefully. After all, he could never be truly certain what was safe to share.   
“I guess I have been cut off a lot…Heard bits and pieces here and there, but not met many fae, let alone different types…”  
“Yeah but… still! It’s a safety thing. I think. Being able to read through glamours what someone might be, helps keeps us from the humans. Though speaking of. Your glamour again. It’s insane, even I had trouble reading through it. Definitely mistook you for a human at first,”  
Keith felt himself visibly flinch, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.   
“What are you trying to say?” he snapped, “and.. How long have you been watching me?!” distract from the point. Always his first defence. He had to believe he wasn’t so obvious.   
“Pfft. Paranoid much? As I said, I don’t get a lot of visitors. So yeah, I’ve seen you a few times though you’ve apparently not seen me…”  
Keith relaxed a little.   
“Sorry… I guess I’ve not been looking for anyone else. But you could have always come up to me?” He reached a gloved hand to rub the back of his head subconsciously.   
“I mean, you called up today, so you clearly aren’t shy…”  
The seal’s eyes narrowed, “are you saying I’m loud,”   
“No! Just outgoing,” this guy seemed to think that nearly everything was a challenge, though Keith couldn’t say perhaps he wasn’t guilty of the same, of being so defensive. Though he has reason to be… what if the selkie did as well.   
“Why… didn’t you just come see me?” he asked slowly, equal parts curious, and scared, of the potential answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hopefully there were minimal typos: am a terrible typer)


	3. Patience yields focus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We had a bonding moment!

“So… you didn’t even trade names with the guy?” Hunk asked cautiously, leaning back on outstretch hands in the sand.  
“No way. He was so suspicious of every little thing? I mean. He could have at least tried to be friendly,”  
“Like you?” Hunk asked, raising an eyebrow that did not sit well with Lance.  
“I’m plenty friendly!” he cried back, splashing his tail in the water's edge just behind him for emphasis.  
“Yeah. You are, Lance. But sometimes you can be a bit infuriating. Especially if you are jealous,”  
“I’m not jealous!” Lance immediately tried to deny, knowing that he wasn’t going to fool either of them .After all, what Hunk had said was entirely true. He has been more difficult than necessary on account of his own jealousy. He knew better than to ask strange fae to remove any glamours, after all, many had their reasons. But for some reason from this pooka who was just so good at it, it felt like a challenge. A challenge that Lance couldn’t live up to.  
“You didn’t meet the guy. He wasn’t particularly friendly. As I said, he was really skittish. And besides, he said he lives near here, yet hasn’t seen any other faeries before? He had never seen another selkie, Hunk,”  
“Well… Selkie aren’t particular common in-land?” Hunk offered.  
“He thought I was a regular seal. Even after I started talking,” Lance emphasised, before letting his head sink into the sand before him. He could not quite place the odd feeling he had about the guy. It was not necessarily a bad feeling, just odd.  
“Well. Perhaps a little naive. You shouldn’t judge either way. What did you do after he asked why you never came to see him? Did you…” Hunk sat up a little straighter. It had been a few visits before Lance had told him about his not-being-able-to-shift predicament, although Pidge had worked it out for herself even faster once again. He couldn’t possibly have imagined that Lance would be so forthcoming with a new stranger. And Lance’s drooping facial expression told him as much.  
“No I just sort of… ran away,” he said quietly into the sand. Hunk blinked. He had been expecting some sort of avoidance strategy, but nothing quite as desperate as that.  
“You… ran away? Like just,” he almost had to hold back a snort as he imaged Lance pulling himself into the water. A seal on land could move at a surprising speed,but they still weren’t fast. Lance most certainly wasn’t, and there was nothing graceful about his movement on land either. Still there was no hiding his small amount of amusement from Lance, who know proceeded to sulk on the beach as the water pulled away. He barely even spoke up when Hunk eventually changed the subject; though Lance couldn’t keep a grudge for long. Even if Hunk hadn’t been his best, and nearly only friend in the world. Lance never had the heart for it. So they spent the rest of he afternoon talking. Lance’s thoughts often wandering back to that pooka. Perhaps he should have been a little kinder or more open. And not just because he craved the company; for a moment at least, it had seemed as though the pooka had recognised his loneliness. Something that Lance would never have wished upon anyone.  
But as a selkie, Lance could not see any glimpses of the future. So as far as he was concerned, he would likely never see the pooka again. 

Lance was, of course, wrong. After all, he wasn’t the only one in need of more company.  
Though it was several hours after Hunk had left. Lance had done some hunting for the day, the life in the small lake still not used to him, or other predators for that matter. The night was a cold one, so Lance pulled himself onto the land and out of the steadily cooling waters for a few hours of sleep. He wiggled himself deeper into the relative warmth of the sand and was just drifting off when he felt a presence. He sleepily opened one eye, but didn’t fully wake up yet. After all, it could be any sort of creature on the beach at this time of night. More likely than not just a forest animal looking for some fresh water.  
Of course he had opened the wrong eye, and flailed in a burst of sand and small pebbles when he heard a voice just appear out of nowhere on his right hand side. There was the most brief of chuckles as Lance caught his breath to spy the pooka, bright eyes almost glowing like a cat’s in the night despite the glamour he insisted on using.  
“Don’t just creep on a guy as he is sleeping!? Where is the courtesy?” he panted.  
“Sorry… I just… I think I know why you never visited me…” the pooka said quietly, almost so much so the gentle lapping of the lake nearly covered his words. Before Lance could respond, the pooka knelt down in the sand, almost glaring at Lance, like he was daring him to run away again.  
“Keith,” he said simply  
“What?”  
“That’s my name. Keith. We never shared them earlier and I thought…”  
“Keith? What sort of name is Keith?” Lance interrupted, much to Keith’s chagrin.  
“It’s my name, you dumbass,” he bit back, and Lance gave the most slight of seal laughs.  
“Well. I’m Lance,” Lance started to offer a flipper to shake on, but thought better of it. After all, a normal selkie would have changed to a human and shaken hands like a normal person. The motion was still noticed by Keith. For someone who had missed a seal despite visiting a lake with one in it for several weeks, he was good at picking up close movement.  
“You can’t shift, can you?” Keith offered, gesturing at Lance’s flippers, and his whiskered face, and tail. Something Lance wasn’t sure he appreciated. He opened his mouth to argue back, but thought better of it. After all, if he were challenged on this point, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it.  
The extended silence that fell between them seemed to answer Keith's question, though Lance wasn't sure that the look of pity he now received was much better than the general annoyance he had been invoking beforehand. Being pitied was the worst. He could just about stand it from Hunk, the brownie was simply too kind and caring to do anything else.  
Keith rested back on his heels with a sigh, "well how did you get here? Unless... were you left behind?" he asked quietly. Lance immediately shook his head,  
"No I... got myself here just fine..." he said, staring intently on a very specific rock in front of him, determined not to hightail it back into the lake.  
"Oh..." this cause Lance to glance upwards at Keith. The pooka almost looked... disappointed?  
"Well. If you got here fine, then surely you can shift and get away?" he said, voice a little more bitter with something Lance recognised but couldn't put his finger on...  
"Yes. I've been stewing in the freshwater lake because I felt like it. Genius," he snapped back.  
Keith seemed a little taken back, and Lance somewhat regretted his tone. Anger didn't do much to help his frustration with the situation at all, his family had taught him better than that. He watched as Keith opened his mouth very slowly, annoyed frown starting to crumple his brow until he paused. And stared at Lance. The anger seemed to dissipate quickly as Keith's mouth then hung slightly open. Lance then realised quite how watery his eyes were. Normally on land they would get weepy, such was the way of being effectively a seal. But right now, it was more than just the usual moisturisation. The loud sniffle Lance gave cemented that fact. He stared at Keith, as if he were trying to dare him to point out anything amiss with the tears streaming now. After all, such a thing was often normal for seals. Whatever argument Keith had been about to make died all too quickly, shunting any hope Lance had of putting on a brave face.  
“Lance….” He said, all too softly. Keith slowly unfolded his legs from underneath him, taking a more firm sitting position in the sand. He hesitantly raised a hand, before swallowing a held breath and gently laying it over Lance’s head. Lance felt any sort of fight drain from him at the contact. Sure, on occasion Hunk would playfully pat his belly, or give him a quick scratch. But that wasn’t quite the same as this, now. Keith’s hand was warmer for a start. Both in comparison to the cold night air, but also because it seemed to hold more heat in the first place. Also the hand was so unmoving yet so carefully placed.  
“Patience yields focus…” Keith’s voice was quiet as he only just spoke the words aloud. Lance tilted his head slightly upwards, but not enough to shift Keith’s hand, the thumb of which was now giving an oh-so-gentle stroking motion that felt so… safe.  
“What’s that?” he asked, instinctively knowing there was more to the words simply by the way that Keith spoke them.  
“It’s… something my friend taught me,” Keith said simply, but Lance knew there was more to that story the pooka wasn’t yet ready to share, “I think… maybe if you stop trying so hard. Perhaps it will come to you, right? Like you know you can do it right, you did it before. So surely you can do it again?”  
“I… had my family there last time,” Lance said, “They helped… And now I have Hunk and Pidge, but they aren’t the same, you know? They don’t quite get it,”  
“Well. Maybe I can help?” Keith said with a shrug. The time Lance jolted with enough force to remove Keith’s hand from his head.  
“You? How?” he said, his voice slightly touched with suspicion. He watched Keith chew carefully over his next words before speaking.  
“Well. Pooka can shift too right? I’m not… I’m not an expert, but I’ll know something?” he said cautiously, and Lance nodded slowly. It did make sense. After all, neither Hunk nor Pidge could shift, being the type of Fae they were. And Lance did then tell Keith this as the excitement of some semblance of hope started to spark in him.  
“Can we try now? What can you shift to? I’ve er… not met a pooka before. Though I’ve heard of them, obviously. Can’t you shift into a few animals, right?” he nearly hopped in the sand, and Keith chuckled at first before Lance questioned what animals it was that Keith could turn into. Then the smile turned into a bit of a grimace. This sobered Lance a little as he thought of how Keith had mentioned not being an expert. He put this two and two with what Keith had also said about patience yields focus and calmed considerably.  
“You… You’ve struggled with this too, right?” he said, tilting his head. Keith flinched as if he had been stung.  
“Sorry. I just assumed…. You are good with the glamour. Like so good,” Lance spoke quickly, trying to talk over the memory of that flinch, “I don’t even know if I can glamour. I mean, I’ve never had to try much. I’ve never… met a human,” Lance whispered the word, like humans were some sort of mythical being. To an extent, they had often seemed that way to him. Having spotted a few from his distant home at the ocean. His family and parents would drag him away from human beaches quick, but he still got an all-to-distant view of them. Yet by the time he was old enough, and reached that beach, they were all gone. The weather had turned for the worse that year, and a pebbled beach was no tourist spot in the winter. He could have waited, but he had wanted to head inland anyway. He didn’t see any humans until he had chosen rest at the forest lake.  
“Humans aren’t all that exciting,” Keith said quietly, gazing out at the water with an odd look of distrust in his eye.  
“I would still like to find that out for myself, I guess,” Lance said, with a slight yawn. His shoulders shivered as he slowly rested his head tiredly in the sand in front of him. The night brought a brief wisp of Keith’s smell to Lance who hummed thoughtfully. The pookah smelt like a musty cabin, probably not unlike the one he had mentioned.  
“You could give it a go now,” Keith said simply, breaking Lance out of his smell reverie.  
“What?” he raised his head from the sand so fast in shock, the world swayed a little.  
“Try it. Now. You don’t. Don’t think about it, just do it,” Keith said with a light shrug, as if he were merely suggesting to go for a leisurely swim.  
“Didn’t you already tell me patience yields focus?” Lance said suspiciously,  
“Well yeah. That;s why you don't have to do it. But I think it’s less about thinking so hard, and trying so hard to do everything right away. Do it now, but in a patient way?”  
“You… are making no sense, dude,” Lance deadpanned.  
But still; it was worth a try?

Normally when Lance tried to shift, he thought of his family, as they had been with him as he learnt. But now he thought more of his new friends  
He thought of Hunk and Pidge, and he thought of this tentative new friendship with Keith, if he could call it that yet. He kept his eyes closed the whole time, but a small gasp from Keith hinted that perhaps something was happening, something was working. Lance opened his eyes feeling more than a little disorientated, unable to feel pieces of his body. He was aware that from the waist down, he still remained seal. But he definitely had human arms, and a human back, and shoulders. And by Poseidon, he hoped he had a human head and face.  
He was barely able to hold this for more than a few seconds, and seeing the spark in Keith’s eye definitely did something to unwind him and Lance felt the fur once more sprout from his face. Without human arms to hold the top of of his body up, he landed back in the sand with an almost painful ploomf. But still he couldn’t worry about that. Though he was now fully seal, he rolled on his back and let out a barking laugh, shocking Keith back too.  
“Never mind this patience yields focus thing. I think I might have worked out my own trick,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again hoping for no typos :)
> 
> also my formatting is likely all over the place because I've been writing a lot via emails to myself when I have spare moments in the day xD
> 
> I've also started learning a few really random facts about seals?


	4. Mission Kerberos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith spends quality time with "big bro" Shiro, and Lance shows off.

Keith found himself visiting Lance most nights, despite the proximity to the water, and despite the fact that the selkie wasn't always entirely successful with shifting.  
Since that first night, he hadn't caught a glimpse of Lance's human face, and the curiosity to see it again was starting to get overwhelming. Somehow putting Lance's personality with that face didn't quite... fit. He had started to associate the light-heartedly rivalry Lance liked to show with the seal and it’s point toothed grin. Yet that human face had been so light and innocent.  
"Keith, buddy. You ok? You've gone pink?" Shiro's voice jolted Keith out of his thoughts.  
"What are you thinking about?" he asked with a small smirk. Shiro was another pooka like Keith, and though the two weren't technically related, Keith had often thought of Shiro like a big brother. And if the way the older fae treated him was anything to go by, Shiro often felt the same. After all, Shiro had been the only one there for Keith for quite some time. Even if he was now busy trying, with Matt, to address the growing threat against the faerie forest.  
The next "stage" in their plan was about to start, so Shiro was here double checking on Keith before he left. And apparently sticking his nose into Keith's private business, which was a funny thought, because Keith had never really kept anything from Shiro before now. Not that he was intentionally keeping his nighttime visits to Lance a secret, it just hadn't come up.  
"Nothing in particular. What time are you heading off?" Keith bit back, willing his face to cool down.  
"That desperate to be rid of me? Seems you can't wait to see me go these days; what have you been doing in the evenings that you are in such a hurry to get to?" Keith let out a small huff. He should have known that Shiro wouldn’t let it go so easily. And he had been going to visit Lance earlier and earlier. It was only a matter of time before he bumped into Lance’s other friends. Which wasn’t entirely a problem. Up until now, Keith had been wishing to meet more of his own kind, just scared to. Somehow meeting Lance seemed to have been enough though. Same as how meeting Shiro had been enough, once upon a time. Though that was a thought for another time. Before they had developed the brotherly bond, Keith had felt other things for Shiro. And this would then mean maybe he felt them for Lance?  
Keith wasn’t doing very well at dispelling the blush at all.  
Shiro gave him an-all-too-knowing smirk and a brisk shoulder nudge.  
“Well don’t worry. Matt and I are headed off earlier today. Wanna have a real good chance at seeing the humans up and close, you know? You’ll be able to head off earlier too. I’m just glad you’ve at least found some company for while we are gone…” his voice trailed off a little, as the worried big brother tone took over.  
“You won’t be gone that long, will you?” Keith asked, suddenly worried. All thoughts of Lance peacefully drifting away as he looked at the other pooka. Shiro stretched, before sitting on Keith’s small couch-come-bed. There was not a lot else in the shack in the way of furniture. Just that, and a whole host of Matt and Shiro’s notes littered all over the place. Like most other fae, those two were more nomadic, so whilst Matt very rarely visited Keith, Shiro often brought the notes on their human stalking. Keith had never really given the notes much thought until their most current idea to fully infiltrate some humans. They had heard rumours, after all, about some new faction, or business, of humans, looking to tear down pieces of the forest. Whilst few fae lived there any more, something felt inherently wrong about doing that. After all, the very deep forest might still be home to far more wild faeries than either Keith or Shiro. Even on the outskirts were where Lance and his friends seemed to live and hang out.  
“Who knows, Keith. I guess the sooner we come back, the worse we will have done, in a way?” Shiro said light-heartedly, resting his elbows on his knees in front of him, “You’ll do fine without me. Don’t worry,” Shiro said, and somehow with that smile, Keith believed him. 

Keith spent most of the remaining portion of the morning simply chilling, enjoying Shiro’s company for the last time he could, and general lazing the day away. After all, all the late nights helping Lance were starting to take their toll. Shiro explained more details about his and Matt’s plan, and eventually added as an addendum about Matt’s younger sibling. Another young pixie, Pidge. Keith’s eyes flashed with recognition, and he could even distantly remember seeing Pidge.  
“I’m sure she’ll do fine,” he said with a faint smile, and Shiro raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh? You’ve met Pidge?”  
“Oh… no not yet. I’ve…” Keith frowned and shifted awkwardly in his spot on the sofa, “I just know a mutual friend. I mean, friend is a strong word but…”.  
Of course, Keith then had to tell Shiro all about Lance, the lost selkie pup. Shiro was even more amazed at Keith having at how close Keith had been willing to get to the water to see and talk to Lance than he was at him making social steps. Regularly going to the water, no less. Keith had given Shiro another playful shove, not really doing much to move the bigger pooka, as he tried to defend himself.  
“I’m not scared of water.I just don;t much like the idea of falling in and drowning. There is a difference,” he protested.  
“Well, with a selkie, I’m sure you won’t drown!” Shiro joked back, taking obvious brotherly glee at Keith’s expression. Still, Keith gave a very faint smile.  
"Sometimes I wouldn't be half surprised if he let me drown. Hardly seems the risk,"  
"You could ask him to teach you,"  
"Teach me what? To swim?" Keith gave his head a quick shake. Taking swimming lessons from a seal didn't seem like the best of plans. Plus he wasn't helping Lance because he'd get something in return, he realised. Initially it might have been some misplaced perception that perhaps helping another shifter would also help him focus on his own abilities, but he found that really, he just appreciated company other than Shiro.  
"Then I would definitely drown," he gave a small scoff, and Shiro returned with a light laugh of his own.  
And that was how they spent their time together. Relaxed and chilled out. A light bit of teasing from Shiro, and talking about humans and their mysterious ways. Keith sometimes knew better than most. 

As Shiro got himself ready to leave, Keith also decided to head out. The pair kept goodbyes to a minimum, as Keith had never done well with overly showy displays of affection. Plus that would make it feel too final. Shiro had promised to send across some sort of message by the next day at the very latest.  
With hands in his pockets, he made his way quietly to the forest lake, some level of nerves fluttering. At this time, Lance's other friends were likely to be there. But Keith didn't want to sit around waiting alone either, after all, he knew he would only worry himself to pieces over Shiro doing that. Thus it was that Keith was off to meet more fae.  
He did, however, drag out the journey as much as possible, scuffing his feet on the forest floor. Despite it being the start of summer, there was still a good level of mulch and old leaves to kick about. Though it seemed that the majority of his nerves were for nothing.  
Lance wasn't alone at the small beach, but it was only Hunk visiting for now. One person at a time would be a fraction easier, and as Keith would soon find out, there were few intelligent being sin the world more welcoming than Hunk. He still hesitated on the edge of the beach, until he made very brief eye contact with Lance, the seal's blue eyes positively lighting up.  
"Hey! Keith!" he cried out, attempting to wave a single flipper. Keith gave himself a private smile as he cautiously approached the pair. He took a good look at Hunk. though reminded himself not to stare too much. He had never seen a brownie before, but Lance's description of his "best friend" had been fairly spot on.  
"Hey. You gotta be Keith, right? Pooka with the all powerful glamour?" Hunk asked like Lance hadn't just cried out Keith's name, wiping a sandy hand on his pants before offering it to shake. Keith couldn’t help but show some slight relief that was the only comment he made on the glamour, as if Lance had talked ahead of his tendency to keep it up out of habit, and some level of fear.  
"Yes. And you'e... Hunk?" Keith had to stoop a little, so ended up sat down next to Hunk, legs folded underneath him.  
"The one and only. Lance claims you helped him to shift human again. I'm not saying that he could possible be lying but...."  
"Hunk!" Lance sounded faux-hurt, and Keith gave a small chuckle.  
"I don't know what he's said; but I've yet to see a full human-Lance," Keith said, and Lance soon turned those seal-pup eyes on him.  
"How could you, Keith?"  
"Shouldn't have embellished the truth then," Keith gave a half-hearted shrug alongside Hunk's deep chuckle.  
“Knew it sounded too good to be true,” Hunk gave Lance a pat on the head as he pouted as much as a seal could possibly ever pout.  
“I never said full human. Just better than usual, more than usual,” Lance tried explaining, and Hunk cast a curious glance at Keith. What more could he do but nod, watching as Hunk continued to scratch Lance’s head. Keith could remember how soft that fur had been, and found himself almost wondering whether Lance’s human hair would have been as soft.  
“I did get a brief glimpse of his face, that’s for sure. Nothing since…” Keith turned his gaze on Lance, before anyone could challenge the slight disappointment hidden in his voice, “And I thought you said you had worked out your own trick?”  
Lance nodded, managing to shake off Hunk’s hand in the process.  
“Yeah: I have an idea I mean. It worked that time, and…. I guess I’ve not tried it much since. I dunno. It didn’t work completely, and I’ve been trying to think of why before I want to try it again because…” his voice trailed off as he stared at the sand. It seemed like Lance was worried about something, an if Keith could relate, that something would very much be just… embarrassing himself? Having known Lance for that much longer, Hunk was quicker to pick up on this, and gave Lance a quick shove, rolling the seal over onto his back. Lance cried out in mock-frustration, before giving that quick barking laugh. It was almost infectious, as Keith found himself nearly matching Hunk’s grin.  
“C’mon Lance. Even if it’s just for a bit, or like… you only have human legs we’ll still be proud,” Hunk paused as if in thought, “Actually just human legs might look a bit creepy. Try top half?”  
“Like last time…” Keith prompted, sharing a quick glance with Hunk who seemed relatively surprised.  
“Last time? Nice. Would much rather sort of merman Lance than.. I dunno seal with human legs? I can’t stop thinking about it!” Hunk gave an involuntary shudder and Lance laughed.  
“Fine... Fine. I’ll try,” he said with a sigh, though seemingly enjoying the laughter and attention, letting it spur him on. In that way, he seemed the complete polar opposite of Keith. Lance slowly closed his eyes in concentration, breaking it for a moment to blink at his friends.  
“And I’ll try to not just have human legs,” he added with a chuckle, prompting a groan from Hunk.  
“The image is burned into my brain. Why did I do this to myself,” he glanced at Keith, who tried to return the smile alongside a shrug. Though it as hard to keep their eyes on each other with Lance trying his best just in front of them. Keith thought he would be entirely prepared for the shift this time. He knew what to expect, and he was hoping it would happen.  
It still didn’t fail to shock him though, as the seal fur pealed back, and Lance’s nose shortened into that of a human. Whiskers receded into what Keith could now recognise as freckles. And still Lance’s seal fur continued to peel away from his now human skin, almost seeming to run up his back as it started to form that all-too famous selkie cloak Lance had told Keith about. Keith also noted the now fully human Lance wasn’t wearing much else, and felt the need to glance away. His gaze instead went to Hunk, who had stood in shock and awe.  
“Woah Lance. Woah!” he said, barely able to contain his excitement, before stooping to slowly pull Lance to his feet. Not wanting to be the odd one out, Keith also rose to his feet, concentrating now on a spot just to Lance’s left side. Lance was clearly unstable on his legs, and with a quick glance, Keith could sort of spot why. The guy was skinny as a rake, long limbs a tangle everywhere, almost like a young fawn.  
“Hey,” Lance said quietly, and Keith felt as if that word were meant for him, and him along. Like Hunk had simply melted away, rather than being Lance’s sole support. Keith swallowed, tearing his gaze up Lance, before looking away his face heating. Lance gave a chuckle and pulled the selkie cloak around himself a bit more.  
“You must have been practising,” Keith mumbled, letting his coyness be masked with a mock grumpiness.  
“I didn’t wanna spoil the surprise until I was sure,” Lance reached one of those all-too-long arms up to rub the back of his head, letting go of the cloak once more. Just as Keith had made eye contact.  
“Uh, Lance. We really need to get you some more clothes there buddy. Any idea what happened to the things you came in?” Hunk said, pulling his head band off and unravelling it so that Lance could use it as a tie around his waist. Doing so meant that Lance’s shaky legs gave up, and he ended up on his bum in the sand and stones once more. Though just as Hunk went to check he was OK, he was already laughing it off. But it was a hearty, genuine laugh. Cleaner than the one he gave as a seal, but it did bark more than other laughs Keith had heard humans make.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever had much in the way of clothes, Hunk. Always just been me and my cloak,” he stretched out his legs in front of himself, and simply… stared. Like he could hardly believe they were there any more than Hunk, or even Keith for that matter. Hunk returned the laugh, sitting back down next to Lance.  
“How did you manage it dude?” Hunk asked quietly, grin still plastering his face.  
“Well.. Beforehand I used to think of my family… and when they were there it was kinda easier. But… they aren’t here now,” Lance’s form seemed to shimmer slightly, but he swallowed, and powered ahead, “So. I think I found a new family, you know? And think of you guys instead…” Lance’s eyes met Keith’s as he spoke, causing something in Keith’s chest to give an almost uncomfortable twist. Hunk followed the gaze, but Lance turned away before the brownie could see anything pass between them, not that Keith knew what he could see, he just knew something made him feel so self-conscious.  
“I have also been practising I guess,” Lance refocused his gaze on his legs, “Using that idea I mean. I think… I think I could stay like this a while now?” his voice got quiet with the uncertainty, and Keith frowned.  
“Scared of failing in front of me then, huh?” he said, the frown softening into a light smile  
“Haha… something like that,” the rawness to Lance’s voice almost seemed to sting, but none of the small group had time to ruminate on that before they were interrupted with a cry. The three turned around to see a small pixie, who Keith finally recognised as Pidge, running towards them full speed. She took one look at the three on the beach, and froze. Her gaze rotating between Lance and Keith with some level of confusion, bordering on fear. 

“Hunk?” she squeaked, only just close enough for them to hear. Hunk stood up with a grin.  
“Lance has done it!” he said happily, Pidge nodding slightly dumbfounded before she focused her gaze on Keith.  
“But the…” she paused, giving her eyes a rub, before recognition lit up her gaze, “The pooka. You must be Keith! Ooooh… for some reason I thought you were a human. Your glamour,” Keith blanched slightly, before nodding. It was an innocent mistake. Killing any sort of awkwardness that could settle between them, Lance attempted to clamber to his feet shakily, using Hunk as support.  
“What’s the panic, Pidge?” he asked, clearly reminding Pidge is why she had rushed to the beach in the first place.  
“It’s Matt… I was just with him. Spending the day because he’s going off on his mission thing and so wanted to catch time but also check and make sure that everything was fine before he left. You see, he was going to see the humans. And he wasn’t going alone but…”  
“Pidge. Slow down,” Lance said with a smile, and Pidge nodded, taking a deep gulping breath.  
“Matt has been caught. By the humans,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrestled my Scrivener into submission to give this a quick edit.  
> Probably not enough editing because Scrivener haaates me on my main PC - but I tried!
> 
> so... about that Keith vlog we've all seen?  
> Hopefully I've kept him to character ^_^


	5. Zulu Niner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the team needs a plan  
> and Lance needs some clothes

Lance nearly lost complete control of himself there and then, but it was only due to the secret training he’d been giving himself when none of his friends were around that he managed to keep his composure. He was about to open his mouth and ask questions, somehow calm Pidge down who seemed generally overwhelmed by everything going on, but somehow, Keith managed to beat her to it.   
“Matt? What about… he wasn’t alone, right? What about…?”  
The only time Lance had seen Keith so animated was when he lost his temper, or argued with Lance. But this seemed like something entirely different. A frown flashed over Pidge’s face, before she nodded quickly.   
“Yes. I mean. Shiro, a pooka not unlike yourself. Shiro was with Matt but… I don’t know what happened. I just know. All I got was the distress signal that things had not gone to plan; and that would only have meant Matt were caught. I…” she faltered, staring at Keith. Keith who Lance now strongly considered for a few moments. He looked visibly distressed, as much as Pidge to say the least.   
“Keith? Do you know Shiro?” Lance asked quietly. For the amount of time that the two had spent together recently, Lance was just now realising he had always been the one talking. He had spoken so much about his family, but never realised he knew nothing of Keith and his background. The pooka had never been forthcoming, so Lance had never wanted to probe, but now maybe he was worrying perhaps he had been to focused on himself. Though even now, Keith seemed to fold in on himself, especially in front of this new attention.   
“Something like that,” he said, though the tone of his voice seemed to hint at more. As did the worry crossing his face.   
“Well… we clearly need to do something then, right?” Lance said, trying not to let his worry about shaking legs show.   
“Lance I really…” Hunk, who was Lance’s sole support right now, seemed to have the same worry. “If they have been taken by the humans… discovered. I don’t know what we can do. This isn’t just something we can rush into?” Lance watched as both Keith and Pidge whirled on Hunk, who merely raised his hands up in defense.   
“Just playing the voice of reason here. We can’t go storm humans. Like, how much do you really know Pidge? Matt might not have really been caught…”  
“But the signal,” Pidge insisted.   
“And what else do you know? Do you know the humans he was taken by, or when? Do you know if Shiro was taken too? Where they could be? I’m not saying we do nothing; but we shouldn’t rush. I mean. Lance doesn’t even have trousers…”  
Pidge immediately went red as if she hadn’t noticed Lance’s lack of clothing. He was still mostly covered by his selkie cloak at least, and he’d been careful drawing it in tight around his waist. Whilst he was sure it wouldn’t necessarily worry Hunk, Keith had gone pretty red, and he definitely didn’t want everything on display in front of Pidge.   
“Is there anything more you can tell us Pidge?” Hunk implored, bringing everyone back to the issue at hand, which Lance was sort of thankful for. Pidge opened her mouth to speak, before closing it and casting her eyes downwards. She shook her head, scraggly brown hair falling over her face.   
“Matt did most of his planning without me. And he… he kind of tried to keep notes away from me and such, wanted to keep me safe….”  
Hunk let out a long sigh. Things weren’t looking good. At least, they weren’t until Keith spoke up, surprising them all.  
“I… might be able to help with that,”   
Lance turned on Keith, “you?” he said, his voices sounding more accusatory than he had intended through the astonishment of it. Keith turned his gaze onto Lance with a small glare, but still nodded slowly.   
“I… I have some of Shiro’s notes on this. It never interested me so much, but I had space, so he kind of just left everything with me?” he offered, swallowing hard. This didn’t exactly clear up a lot of things for Lance. After all, they had heard bits about the legendary Shiro from Pidge. Whilst Pidge had met Shiro sparingly, she of course knew a ton more stories about him from Matt. After all, she idolised her brother, who idolised his best friend to an extent. Putting this image of Shiro together with Keith just seemed… off. He almost felt jealous, and that must have shown on his face because Keith rolled his shoulders.   
“I’ve… known Shiro a while,” he said, by way of explanation. Before any more of the group could say anything, or question Keith and his history, Hunk folded his arms and spoke up.  
“Well, I don’t know about you guys. But this sounds like a good enough place to start!”

Somehow Hunk’s suggestion was all they needed to get the group going. And for the first time in months, Lance finally left his lake-pool, and entered the nearby forest. He was enrvous, to say the least, but certainly seemed to be staying human just fine. In fact he seemed more than just fine, though knew it would only take a small shock before he’d likely revert back. So perhaps rushing headfirst into danger, trying to rescue Matt and potentially Shiro too, from humans would not help. A calm collected plan beforehand definitely sounded like the better option.   
As they moved through the winding forest path, Lance started to feel his legs strengthen, and they slowly ceased to shake. He found that he was able to move slowly away from Hunk, and in doing so he crept up behind Keith, who was largely leading the way, with Pidge hovering back and forth around him impatiently.   
“So… Shiro?” Lance asked slowly, and Keith’s gaze flicked to him, narrowing slightly. Lance paused briefly, taking in Keith’s guarded expression, before drawing a breath. Keith might want to be cagey on the topic, but if they were headed to wherever he was been living to see things Shiro had left there, well….   
There was also the possibility they would need to rescue Shiro, very strong possibility. And it would be good to know more about how Keith would behave. From what Lance could tell, from what he knew from experience, Keith was close to Shiro. Almost as much as Pidge to Matt, or how Lance would be with his siblings. But there seemed to be more than that, something Keith was holding close to his chest without saying much else.   
“What about him?” Keith eventually replied, trying to sound nonchalant, but Lance could hear the most faint strain to his voice. He wouldn’t hold Lance’s gaze for long, even to glare. Definitely hiding something.   
Or perhaps Lance’s lack of clothes also made the poor guy awkward, though the possibility of that was almost laughable.   
“How well do you know him? I mean enough to be worried, right. As much as Pidge so… are you guys related?” Lance asked, though somehow he knew it were unlikely. He was sure Pidge would have mentioned if Shiro had had a brother, but on top of that, his gut was telling him as such.  
“No,” Keith confirmed Lance’s suspicion, but that just opened the door for more curiosity.   
“So…” Lance tried prompting, but Keith was definitely like a closed book. He shut up tight, and turned his focus on the forest path ahead of them, and trying not to trip up on Pidge. Lance was about to open up and try to pry some more, but was interrupted by Hunk.  
“Where are we headed by the way? This is going back towards the village a little bit, surely? What about clothes? Will you have spares for Lance. I mean we should probably get some of those, right?” he had clearly been bottling up the questions for as long as he could, and Keith sighed as if he too recognised this fact. Still he seemed a little relieved to have something less personal to answer for now, and Lance bit his lip. The motion meant he had to keep back a little bit of his smile as he realised that yes he was human and was still holding the form. Now really wasn’t the time to be too giddy about this, but Lance couldn’t really help himself. After all, he was in the forest. And as Hunk had just said, they were headed towards the human village. They would surely stop before then, and in fact, they did seem to veer off the path not too shortly after Hunk had asked, but still. Lance had never spent much time in the forest. He had passed through the bit where the thinning trees led to some rolling hills, which would eventually lead to the true beach and the sea, but he had never been so deep within the tree. Never felt the dead leaves and dirt between his toes.He did try to keep his joy at the experience hidden ,after all, he would have much rather this been under far better circumstances.   
“We are headed to… my shack,” Keith said quietly, almost seemingly reluctant to reveal that fact. Lance blinked… a shack seemed like a very non-fae thing to live in. It seemed that Pidge and Hunk thought much the same, as they froze for a minute, before hurrying to catch up with Keith who either had not noticed, or simply refused to stop and wait for them.   
“A shack?” Pidge asked, her voice laced with suspicion, “you are taking us to… a shack?”she glanced nervously at Hunk, the ever present voice of reason, and thus their unofficial safety monitor. He in turn looked to Lance expectantly, seeing as Lance had known Keith the longest, surely he would have more answers. Lance did not, but he simply swallowed and led his friends forward. After all, he wanted to be relatively certain they could trust Keith. It might be a little weird, but it was surely safe. It was also very clearly off the beaten path at this point, and thus would likely be well hidden from any humans.   
“I’m more worried about the clothes. Would they really fit me?” Lance tried joking, lightening the mood. After all, he had a couple of inches at least on Keith, mostly due to his longer limbs, which were surprisingly lanky considering how he spent most of his time as a relatively pudgy seal. It was a genuine worry, but also took some of the suspicion from Keith who gave a small scoff.  
“Who’s to say that I have any clothes you can wear at all,” Keith responded with a small smirk. Lance let out a small gasp in response,   
“Keith, buddy… I thought we were friends…”he said, moving the drape himself loosely over Keith’s shoulders as the pooka’s ears started to turn pink for reasons Lance couldn’t quite work out. His casual motion definitely seemed to be a mistake, because Keith sort of jumped lightly, causing Lance to lose his not so strong footing. He ended up tilting back, and landing uncomfortably on his butt in the twigs of the forest floor.   
“Maybe not…” he muttered, and Hunk responded by letting out a slight laugh, stooping whilst he did so to help Lance up. As Lance bemoaned his fate, Keith responded with the slightest of laughs himself, catching eyes with Hunk as the pair watched Lance brush twigs from himself.   
“Guys!” Pidge brought them back to present. She was positively hopping, and just sounded so done with everything they were getting up to.   
"We are nearly there," Keith stated simply, by way of dispelling any frustration or irritation that had settled over the group. Hunk gave another chuckle, and started moving, overtaking Keith just a little bit as their slowly came into view of the shack. Here both Hunk and Pidge sort of froze, and glanced at each other. Considering the amount of time that they normally spent near humans, Hunk especially as a brownie, it still seemed to perturb them that Keith really lived in something so… human himself. Pidge levelled her gaze on Keith suspiciously once more, and was about to open her mouth to ask about his glamour, Lance could tell. As much as Lance wanted that question answered, he had enough experience in trying to know it was a sensitive topic. So instead, he used his more ignorant position to approach the shack without any sort of caution. After all, he hadn’t met many land-fae, so he didn’t quite see what the big deal was.   
“Home sweet home, eh?” he said, pushing past Pidge, and giving her a simple pat on the head as she passed. This seemed to redirect her mild annoyance onto Lance as she almost snapped at him with her teeth. Without even a questioning glance at Keith, Lance forced his way into the small cabin. Or, at the very least he tried. He approached the door, and gave it a creaking shove. And it was only when Keith reached past him to grab the handle of all things that it swung in-wards. Lance had luckily pulled back at the last moment, so kept his balance, barely.   
“I haven’t seen a door before, ok?” he excused himself, now entering the shack. It wasn’t anything near as exciting as he had been hoping. There was a sofa pushed up against a wall, and by the looks of the sheets draped across it, Keith clearly used this as a bed too. Things Lance had heard and learnt about from his family, of course, but had never really seen. The there was a small table covered in papers, which of course, Hunk and Pidge made a beeline too, prompted with a single nod from Keith. Otherwise there seemed to be a lot of… dry rubbish around. Almost looking like human things, rubbish that Keith quickly kicked underneath his sofa-bed and out of sight. This motion drew Lance’s gaze elsewhere however. Towards a neatly folded stack of clothes in the corner. Clothes that, once again with permission, Lance pounced on. His movement distracted Keith from showing Hunk and Pidge what was presumably Matt and Shiro’s plans.   
“Hey!”  
“Hey you! I need some of these, right?” Lance argued back, quickly ruining Keith’s oh-so-tidy stack. The majority of the clothes seemed to be varying dark shades of reds and blacks, as if Lance had ever seen Keith wear anything else. Nothing that seemed to fit in Lance’s tastes, not that he could afford to be fussy, but it seemed unlikely to fit him too. Or such was his excuse.   
“You can’t just… rifle through my stuff!” Keith said, stooping to yank the pair of red shorts Lance had been holding from his hands, whilst sporting a vicious blush. Lance pouted a bit, as they had seemingly been the first thing he had found that might have half-way fit him.   
“What? It’s just clothes,”  
“Yeah and…” Keith let out a sigh, “Look… I’ll help you find something. There’s a bunch of stuff that Shiro brought for me and stuff here, some that I don’t wear. Either wrong size or…” he gave a half-hearted shrug. Lance nodded in agreement, before sitting back, his legs fully on display as his selkie cloak fell away. Keith let out a small sniff, before turning to his clothes. He pulled a few neat piles out of the way, to reach some of the older, mustier smelling stuff to the front. Lance’s nose wrinkled, and he didn’t much fancy wearing these clothes, but at least the colour scheme at the very least looked that much more appetising. Keith tossed him a pair of stiff blue pants, jeans he called them, before finding a light blue tshirt to go with. Lance smiled slightly at the choice, and gave Keith the slightest of questioning looks. The boy responded with a small shrug, looking away instantly.   
“Thought the colour suited,” he said very quietly, and Lance nearly missed in his attempt to immediately get dressed before Pidge and Hunk could turn around. Not that they were likely to, as absorbed as they were in the notes, chattering quietly over them with one another. Lance started with the pants, stiff though they might be, they seemed a pretty decent fit otherwise. At least, until he was stopped by Keith.   
“You can’t just… ugh. Lemme get you some boxers first,” Lance paused, letting the jeans fall to the floor. Keith handed him back the small pair of shorts he had snatched away not that long ago.   
“They are clean, I promise… Just…” he said, not looking Lance in the eye.   
“But… what about these?” Lance said, having taking the boxers in one hand, held up the jeans in the other.   
“Ugh. Never worn clothes right? Those go under these,” Keith said, pointing at one item of clothing than the other. Lance raised an eyebrow, but decided to go with it. Not giving Keith any warning before he started pulling on the boxers, much to the pooka’s chagrin.   
“If you guys have finished dressing each other up…” Pidge broke through the awkward moment between Lance and Keith just as Lance had started to pull the tshirt over his head, somehow making it more awkward.   
“Hunk and I might have a vague plan?” 

They explained the plan on the move, though “plan” was a little bit strong for what they were planning to do.   
Namely, the notes had talked about humans in general, and one group of humans in particular, all based around Matt and Shiro’s observations. The humans living in the enarby town had been content enough with leaving the forest, but it seemed a new group had arisen, a business of sorts. They wanted to gentrify the village, for want of a better word. And part of this plan was to remove the forest. After all, a spooky forest with rumours of fae was quite off-putting to prospective house buyers. The village as a whole seemed rather apathetic to this plan, so Shiro and Matt’s hopes had been to infiltrate the humans to convince them otherwise, and somehow drive away Galra. Part of this seemingly involved infiltrating the Galra themselves somehow, and Pidge strongly suspected that had been where the plan went pear-shaped. So it was this business group that the small team of fae were planning to go spy on. Just to see whether both Shiro and Matt had been caught, and to try and pick up any more information. After all, if the pair had been caught, than these humans were definitely a very real threat, and to try and approach them would be madness.   
So that was how the four of them glamoured up, and set off. The three of them, Keith most definitely included, had been initially surprised with Lance’s skill with glamouring, before they realised it was something slightly different. He had managed to somehow change the selkie cloak into a far less conspicuous off-green jacket with white hood. It till seemed to hold some of the comfort of the original cloak, but definitely wasn’t fur.   
“It’s… one of the first things I was taught,” Lance had explained, pulling the hood down to reveal still pointed ears. Perhaps he wasn’t that great at glamour after all. A quick touch of the hoodie suggested this magic was slightly different, though in a way that Keith couldn’t explain. After all, a glamour was a trick, and visual illusion only. This hoodie felt real.   
“If I managed to convince you guys that it was a glamour, and glamours are just tricks… surely this counts, right?” he had said hopefully, sticking hands in the pockets of the hoodie as they moved off. Keith gave a very light scoff,though his gaze remained focused on the hoodie.   
“I wouldn’t quite call that a glamour. If anything it’s kind of more impressive,” he said, causing Lance to feel a light heat rise in his cheeks. It was rare that Keith would give him a compliment, and from the fact Keith seemed to now be pulling far ahead of the group so as to avoid any eye contract, he wondered if compliments were something Keith rarely gave. He didn’t have time to ponder this, and he soon felt Hunk’s heavy hand on his shoulder.   
“Yeah dude. This looks really great,” that same hand now pulled the hood up over Lance’s head, “but you might wanna tuck those ears away,”.  
Lance couldn’t help but pout. After all, he had never had much reason to practice a glamour before now. But that would have to be a problem for another day. For now, the hood would definitely suffice. The sun was setting fast, and it was likely that the village would slowly become more quiet as a result. Even so, the rest of their group focused on their best glamours as they slowly made their way around the outskirts. According to the notes, Galra had based themselves just outside of the village, and some short distance away from the forest. They didn’t really need to get close to the village at all to get there, but this way involved less time spent in the forest, and Hunk has suggested skirting close to the village just to double check for any alternate signs or Matt or Shiro there. They found no such thing, and eventually found themselves climbing up a rather large hill, with an almost cliff like face on the other side. This would make for the most perfect place to spy, as the handful of faeries could duck down in the bushes and shrubs lining the crest, and get a perfect view of the Galra encampment. There was a small camp tucked just beyond the hills, and the humans seemed to be busying themselves at the far edge. Despite the now late hour, the camp looked well lit, in an unearthfly purple glow. Shrouded humans looked excited as they bustled around. This was already a sign of something happening.   
“I think this is just one camp of many,” Hunk whispered to the others, “but it still might give us a vague idea. It’ like their… stop on their way to this village, but their main location is further out. Or at elast, that was what Matt and Shiro thought….”  
“And they seemed to be right. Look at those vehicles… they seem to be carting things back and forth. What… what if we are too late?” Pidge nearly cried out, but was quickly shushed.   
“We’ll work that one out. So far we have no evidence they have either, although…” Hunk murmured back, as he eye spotted something. The sudden commotion drew all of their eyes, as they saw what had the camp so excited. Being dragged from one tent to another was most definitely a fae. A pooka to be exact. They watched him struggle without use, and all froze. All apart from Keith, who immediately leapt up to his feet, his eyes alight.   
“Shiro!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos if anyone can get the chapter title reference
> 
> Whilst I don't want everything to line up with the series exactly, I'm a sucker for drawing parallels, and trying to reimagine different scenes :) 
> 
> (also sorry again for maybe cliffhanger? Though not sorry really...)


	6. No, you don't. I'm saving Shiro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team plan to rescue Shiro, captured within a Galra camp.

Keith felt Hunk’s strong arms tighten around him, holding him back, stopping him. 

Probably for the best. 

Just for that short moment where he needed his temper to cool down just a fraction. He had nearly lost it, nearly lost control of himself, and his carefully placed glamour. Something that, at the best of times, would have worried Keith. But now when they could so clearly see these humans that called themselves Galra. Humans specialised in catching fae like him, like Matt. And like Shiro who they could now see struggling to be free of his restraints. They were some distance away, Shiro was partially obscured, and something felt… off, though Keith couldn’t quite see what it was. Despite this, it was so clearly Shiro. And that voice, that cry could only belong to Keith’s first friend in the world.  
“We… we were jut supposed to be scouting this out…” Hunk spoke quietly, his voice shaking ever so slightly.  
“Before we saw Shiro down there…” Lance spoke, casting a quick glance at Keith. Hunk seemed to look to Pidge for some other source of reason.  
“Guys… we were watching from up here because it would be too dangerous to get down there and find better clues?” Hunk tried again. Keith started to turn his glare on Hunk for even daring to suggest that they could leave Shiro behind, but his anger melted away ever so slightly as he did. There was no way Hunk was happy to suggest this, his face was a mix of regret and fear. He was suggesting they fall back in order to keep themselves safe, but…  
Before Keith could argue in favour of saving Shiro, Pidge beat him to it.  
“No. We can’t just leave him there. We can’t leave Shiro. We would not be leaving Matt if it had been him, so we….” Pidge shook her head. Keith glanced at the smaller pixie in some level of shock. Her eyes were large a glassy, and they shone with tears she was desperately trying to hold back.  
“Shiro… might also be our best chance at finding Matt too. Not to mention… finding out what these humans. No… what these Galra want with us!”Lance spoke up. His gaze was still focused on Keith, who was able to take a deep breath.  
“Hunk is right that we only came here on reconnaissance,” he said with as much strength as he could muster, but continued before the others could react, “this just means we need a better plan to get Shiro out,”  
“Well… we had better come up with something quick,” Pidge piped up, and she was right. The Galra appeared to be trying to move Shiro towards one of the vehicles. If they got him on that, they couldn’t be certain about how, and if, they would be able to save him.  
“We’ll just steal one of those,” Keith pointed at one of the vehicles,one of the ones that Shiro was struggling so hard to not be placed on. Once more something didn’t seem right, Shiro seemed hampered somehow. He didn’t just seemed to have his arms pinned, but his movements were more panicked and erratic. Shiro who have always kept such a cool head about things… Keith shook himself slightly. Now was not the time to be thinking about that; now they just had to prioritise saving Shiro.  
“How are we possibly going to steal one of those? Not to mention get it moving?” Lance spoke incredulously, and Keith huffed. The selkie did have a very strong point after all. It wouldn’t be so easy, but…  
“If we get a big enough distraction, I reckon I get drive it,” he admitted, willing them quietly not to ask questions. So of course, Lance being Lance, had questions.  
“Just.. Trust me, OK?” he replied when Lance started questioning how he knew what driving was, how he was going to get the vehicle started, and then moving, and then control it thereafter. How they could trust he wouldn’t just crash the entire thing and kill them all. Apparently those few words were enough for Lance, who gave a small sigh, and turned to face the Galra scene once more. 

“So mullet… what distraction are we going to get?” he asked, causing Keith to frown.  
“…mullet?” he asked, nearly leaping out of his skin when Lance’s hand flicked very carefully through the hair at the back of his neck, brushing the skin so gently it sent a mild shiver down Keith’s spine. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, just wholly unexpected.  
“Mullet,” Lance said, glancing away quickly as if he had not been expecting Keith’s reaction.  
“I reckon…. Something other side of the camp. Look,” Pidge answered the question on Keith’s behalf, cutting whatever had been happening between him and Lance short. She poitned at the far reached of the camp where a truly massive container was sat.  
“It’s a power generator. I reckon… we could set that to blow somehow…” she said, a devious edge to her voice. Hunk practically yelped at her suggestion.  
“Are you kidding me? Do you know the explosion that could cause? We might well die trying something as mad as that,”  
“Oh contraire my brownie friend. I think I have a few ideas of how we could take out such a thing a little bit more safely than that…”  
With that, Pidge and Hunk launched into a winding conversation that had Lance glancing at Keith for help. He responded with a small shrug, not having any better idea what they were talking about than Lance did. All they could really do is hope whatever Pidge’s plan was, would work. Hopefully between her and Hunk they would have something that worked well enough to cause a big enough distraction, without putting them too much at risk. They didn’t seem to have much time left. Shiro had now been vastly outnumbered, and a talk man with a shaved head and short mohawk appeared to drugging him, stopping any more resistance. As Shiro started to slump, he seemed to turn to his companions and go through some sort of plan. Keith glanced desperately at Pidge and Hunk, who seemed to be coming to some sort of agreement, and not a moment too soon. The pair gave each other another non-verbal nod, before Pidge turned to Keith to explain their plan.  
“We have an idea of how to pop at power generator. That ought to cause enough of a stir to distract most of the humans. And then we’ll also have the added bonus of darkness. You can then get Shiro and somehow drive one of those things away, right?”  
“Wait what about me?” Lance yelped, and Keith gave a small sigh.  
“You can barely walk…”  
“You aren’t going to leave me here! I can moev just fine. Besides, you may need some sort of back-up, or at least help,”  
With out much time to sit there an argue, Keith quickly relented, silently hoping that Lance would not hold him back. The small group made plans of where they should reconvene, as Keith would have to stop the vehicle just long enough to pick Hunk and Pidge up after they set the explosion. Pidge tried to suggest a back up plan, or some sort of signal they could send to each other if things went wrong, but Keith refused.  
“This will work. It will have to!” he snapped, before giving Lance a sharp tug down the hill. He had had enough with waiting around, it it seemed the Galra had just started to load Shiro into one of the vehicles. Hunk gave the pair of them a sharp wave, before he quickly followed Pidge who seemed far too excited about blowing things up. 

With the amount of chatter Lance produced, Keith was beyond amazed that neither of them had been spotted. The pair had slinked around the edge of the Galra camp, losing sight of Shiro and the vehicles, but largely following Keith’s memory and instinct. They heard the Galra who had Shiro long before they spotted them.  
“This should hold him if he wakes up,” one said cautiously to the others, “I should be able to take it from here,” he said slyly, and as Keith and Lance crouched behind various crates and out of sight, Keith heard the tell-tale sign of a door opening. He was about to leap up and go, after all, Pidge and Hunk’s explosion should be happening any second now, and he was certain he could take on the multiple Galra, but Lance quickly pulled him back.  
“Are you mad? There’s too many. Wait it out a little until it’s just the one guy…” he whispered frantically, and Keith pouted. They had yet to hear the door shut again, so he needn’t worry just yet. In fact, by the sounds of it, the one Galra who had entered the vehicle was trying to disperse the other two, who seemed pretty insistent on escorting him.  
“Do you not…” he has just started to argue, when suddenly a blast echoed throughout the Galra camp. Everything seemed to freeze for the most brief of moments, as even Keith was distracted by the sudden noise of the explosion. But then bamf. The lights went out simultaneously, and they were all plunged in darkness. Immediately a set of torches lit, and the Galra who had been dealing with Shiro were panicking. 

“Well! Go see what it is. This fae isn’t going to be shifting any time soon!”.  
The light of the torches quickly faded, and Keith cast a glance in Lance’s direction. He was now seeing some shortfall to the plan to blow out the floodlights positioned above them. He could barely see a thing in the sudden darkness, and without a full moon or stars to bring any light, Keith wasn’t even sure he could find the vehicle despite how close.Still, he had to try, and so he stood up with more confidence than he felt, trying to get a look at what was happening. He couldn’t see much more than vague shapes, and hear the rustling of one final Galra who had remained with the vehicle. Keith heard the telltale jangle of keys, ready to go into the ignition. With more speed and panic than he should, Keith managed to run himself straight into a bush. He heard Lance snicker, and the Galra in the vehicle went completely silent.  
Shit.  
Keith couldn’t move much more without causing more sound, and prayed that the Galra couldn’t see him any more than he could see anything else. A footstep sounded on the dirt, signalling the Galra had left the vehicle, and Keith swallowed. He heard a telltale click, and squeezed his eyes shut, expecting torchlight to pass over him. But nothing. He peeked open an eye, in case it was a weak torch, but everything remained dark. The clicking started again, and Keith realised it was Lance of all things. There was a brief yelp, thud and then scuffle before more silence.  
Keith pulled himself from the bush as much as he dared, eyes wide as if it wiuld help him distinguish between the shadows. Suddenly once appeared right in front of his face, and he felt Lance’s breath on his cheek.  
“I got him!” the selkie yelped happily, before haphazardly grabbing Keith, and pulling him from the bush.  
“You what? How?!” Keith asked incredulously, feeling his way to the vehicle. He would have stumbled on the unconscious Galra if it hadn’t been for another nudge from Lance in the right direction.  
“My echolocation isn’t great, and think better in water and what I’m actually a seal but…”  
“Echolocation? Can seals do that?” Keith gave a very slight laugh as his hand met with the vehicle. Lance must have shrugged, because he initially made not noise to respond.  
“Oh. Sort of. Selkies can but as I said, it’s not brilliant. More for finding safe spots. But it did the trick!”  
Keith hummed in response as he sat down in the driving seat of the vehicle, glad to feel that the keys were ready to go. He didn’t have much experience with these things, but he hoped what he knew would at least be enough.  
“Can you check on Shiro?” he asked, as he turned the ignition and the vehicle sputtered to life. It lit up from the inside, and Keith finally turned to Lance who nodded quickly and climbed into bed area at the back of the truck, where Shiro’s cage was.  
“Uh…” came Lance’s voice, and Keith tried to turn over in his seat, but couldn’t see much beyond.  
“What is it? Is Shiro OK?”  
“…mostly… I think,” came Lance’s cryptic response. Keith strained some more, but it seemed the distraction set by Pidge and Hunk was going to run out. The pair heard shouts as the one vehicle lit up was undoubtedly spotted by the entire camp.  
“Mostly?” Keith cried out regardless. They didn’t have too much time to worry, but he needed to know that Shiro was going to be OK.  
“Yeah. Just get going, Keith!” Lance cried out in response. With a swallow, Keith follow Lance’s orders and slammed his foot on the pedal. Luckily the vehicle was automatic, so was that much more simple to drive.  
It didn’t mean that Keith was any good, and he managed to drive through various boxes and items, maybe even a small campfire, in his rush to escape the camp and get to where Pidge and Hunk had hidden themselves. Sadly the lights and noise of the vehicle created another great moving target,but the Galra were still too scrambled to do much about the faes’ getaway. Still, it didn’t seem to perturb Lance who whooped as they raced, bouncing over the grass and stones. Spotting Pidge and Hunk jumping and waving, Keith slowed just enough for them to wrench open the back doors and pile in, starting once again before Pidge had even closed the door behind them.  
“Lance?” Hunk asked out of breath, and Keith gestured with his thumb towards the back of the van.  
“With Shiro,” he said simply, most of his cognition focused on driving. He heard Hunk turn in the seat and cry out to Lance, and Keith rolled his eyes.  
Though they still weren’t quite in the clear, the Galra seemed to have formed some sort of barrier in their way, using a back-up generator. Pidge cried out in frustration at this very fact, because of course she should have seen such a thing coming. Keith gritted his teeth debating whether they could drive through the shining purple shield; but if the Galra had erected this knowing he was in one of their stolen vans….  
“Keeiiiithh!!” Pidge cried as he showed no signs of stopping regardless. It had to be all or nothing  
“Brace!” he cried out in response, closing his eyes at the moment just as they should have hit the barrier and…  
Nothing.  
The passed clean through, and Keith cast a glance as briefly as he dared over his shoulder to see the barrier flickering out behind them. A handful of the humans rushed around what seemed to be a secondary generator….  
Somehow they had hit a streak of luck and the barrier had frittered out, leaving humans scrambling all over the place, and no one prepared as Keith stormed into the night. 

Keith eventually pulled the van up on the edge of the forest, and everyone piled out taking deep breathes. Hunk wheezed, before rushing off a short distance to the bushes to promptly empty his stomach. Pidge gave a small snort, though she also looked decidedly green in the face, her wings crumpled at her sides. Of the passengers, Lance seemed to be faring the best, as he suddenly sat up, raising both fists in the air.  
“Yeah! That was awesome!”  
Keith gave a soft smile, before hurrying to the back of the van, where Shiro’s cage had been place. Shiro was crumbled awkwardly at the bottom, just about breathing. He didn’t seem fully conscious yet, and they had no idea how long it would take to wear off. Presumably quite some time, as the Galra had been planning to abduct him, likely some distance away. Lance was at Keith’s side, providing some level of comfort in his presence alone, though Keith could also feel the nervous energy. Something still didn’t seem quite right about Shiro, curled up like he was. Though Keith couldn’t quite see. Instead he needed to focus on the cage.  
“Quick… help me get this…” He went to latch on the cage door, only to find it was… already unlocked. He cast a quick glance at Lance questioningly, wondering when the selkie might have had a chance to unlock the cage, but was returned with a small shrug.  
“Wasn’t me…” he offered, and Keith frowned. Who would have left the cage unlocked? Sure Shiro was out… But then Shiro stirred.  
He wasn’t that knocked out. Seemed the Galra had done a very shoddy job; Shiro could have escaped at any point after he had woken up. Keith didn’t have much time to ponder this fully, because as Hunk and Pidge came up beside him, Shiro sat up dizzily.  
Lance had said Shiro was mostly alright.  
Keith now saw what he meant, and the sight filled him with rage.  
Shiro’s grey eyes slowly focused on Keith, his pointed ears pulling back slightly.  
“Keith?” he said, raising one arm to pull himself to his feet, grip tight on the bars to keep steady. Keith sucked in a breath to see the full extent of the damage  
“What… what did they do to you, Shiro?” he whispered, and heard the soft gasps from Hunk and Pidge. He felt Lance’s breath on his neck as if he had been holding his breath in anticipation of Keith’s reaction.  
After all.  
Shiro had barely been gone half a day, and already the humans had taken something so irreplaceable. Shiro gave another sway, and tried to raise his other arm to steady himself, but this did nothing to help. After all, his second arm was now little more than just a stump. 

The Galra had taken Shiro’s right arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today on things I had to google:
> 
> what power generators looked like  
> the name for an ignition (I have driven... but my mind went blank the second I tried to type)  
> the name for the back of a pick-up truck? There isn't really one?


	7. Castle of Lions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now with Shiro, the small team flee into the forest to escape the Galra, and seek some semblance of safety.

Lance had never done anything anywhere near as exciting as driving. Though perhaps it was in part due to the adrenaline now flowing out of his system. For a few moments it had allowed him to forget what they had even been doing, despite Shiro’s cage providing the only source of grip for him to hold onto as the truck has bounded and bounced it’s way towards the forest.   
He knew Keith would be upset by Shiro’s amputation, but he hadn’t guessed quite how upset. It had made for what would have been a comical scene if they weren’t all a little horrified. Shiro, the one who was arguably most hurt, was left to comfort Keith, trying to convince the younger pooka that everything was OK. Though the shake in Shiro’s voice made Lance wonder if he doubted that himself, so with his own brotherly instincts kicking in, he swept in to also check on Keith. He knew that there was little he could say, but just rubbing small circles on Keith’s back seemed to help. Shiro gave Lance a thankful look, which then turned slightly suspicious as he realised they had never met. He drew his gaze across the small group that had rescued him, eyes focusing on Pidge for a brief moment as a new wave of guilt washed over his face. Pidge certainly saw this, and it registered on her own face as she clearly swallowed the questions she was going to ask. After all, there had been no signs of Matt at the galra camp, so it was more than likely he had already been shipped. And Shiro was certainly in no position to be answering heavy questions.   
“How did… How did you guys know where to find me?” he eventually asked, gaze flicking between them.   
“Your notes…” Keith answered quietly, lifting his head up from his lap. Lance took this as a sign he was ok without the constant rubbing at his back, so quickly pulled his hand away. He didn’t miss Keith shiver at the sudden cold, but he continued talking as if nothing had happened.   
“You left your notes round mine. And well, Hunk and Pidge deciphered them best. It was… more them than us,” he admitted and Lance gave him a small nudge.   
“Nah, everyone did great. They were so cool to blow the generator, but you drove us out. Team effort,” Lance smiled, hiding his own jealousy as he questioned what he had done to help, really.   
“And you knocked out the driver,” Keith immediately prompted, and Lance gave a gentle shake of the head.   
“I’m sure he would have given you no trouble,” he shrugged it off. A brief glimpse of confusion flickered over Keith’s eyes, as he opened his mouth unclear as to how to respond, but Lance had already pulled away. He turned to Shiro, and started to over a hand out to shake, but thought better of it, seeing as Shiro didn’t have a hand with which to shake back.   
“I’m Lance. The big guy is Hunk, and the little one…” Pidge voiced her frustration as being referred to as such, but Shiro gave a smile,  
“I know Katie already,” he smiled, and Pidge gave a small splutter. Lance turned his gaze on Pidge, and noticed Hunk do the same.   
“Katie?” Lance tried not to snigger, and Pidge turned a dark gaze on him, forcing him to hide any laughter.   
“It’s my other name… I prefer Pidge,” she levelled her gaze on Shiro who had the courtesy to look sheepish. Pidge looked ready to start asking more questions, but was quickly stopped by Hunk. Ever the voice of reason, Hunk suggested that they move on quickly. After all, it was highly like the galra would soon before after them, so I would be best to get themselves hidden deep in the forest.   
Even though Shiro looked in no position to be travelling, he agreed strongly, and even dared to pull ahead to lead the small group. Lance offered a hand to help Keith up from the bed of the truck, and he seemingly thought about it before accepting it. Their hands remained clasped for a second longer than was truly necessary, before Lance found himself pulling away out of habit. 

Upon reaching the forest, Hunk tried to lead the way for as far as he could, but they were in a particular stretch that was fairly new to all of them.   
“Where are we going guys?” he eventually turned and asked, eyes glinting slightly in the darkness. Lance wrinkled his nose. Under the cover of trees, and away from any of the distant lights of the village, half of the group couldn’t see past their own noses. Lance was no exception to this, even if he was confident in his ability to not walk into any trees. Being a brownie, Hunk was best set to lead them through. He had sharp eyes made for sneaking around homes late at night. Pidge was likely the same.   
“Probably best to keep going, Hunk. As deep as we can go. Though you’ll have to lead the way,” Lance replied, sounding slightly braver than he felt. Hunk made a small noise of agreement, and this followed by a quiet breath of thanks from Shiro. Presumably, the elder pooka was in a bit of a sorry state, so Hunk being Hunk had allowed himself to be a makeshift crutch. The shuffling sounds ahead suggested that Hunk and Shiro had stared moving once more, with Pidge not too far behind. Lance gave a little sigh and clicked his tongue. He was going to have to do this the hard way it seemed, but he was momentarily stopped by something brushing the tips of his fingers. He stifled a very small yelp, before being shushed by Keith.   
“I… Can’t see,” he murmured, as Lance felt the hand brush his onces more before a firm, yet sweaty, grip.  
“Duude…” he started to protest as Keith starting to walk, pulling him along.   
“Just… make sure I don’t walk into anything, ok?” Keith said, and Lance rolled his eyes with a smile no one could see. He instinctively pulled ahead, after all, he could hardly stop Keith walking fully into a tree if the pooka took the lead. And as funny as that would have been, Lance couldn’t help but feel a little smitten that Keith had asked him for help with this. Even if it did mean holding his sweaty hand, though Lance started to wonder whether his was just as bad. 

Luckily for the group, they didn’t need to stumble half blind for long. As they reached the depths of the forest, and away from any potential prying eyes of humans, a faint blue light lit up in the distance. Lance felt himself let out a little gasp as the light, like a small blue flame seemed to hover, just beyond the nearest bushes, bobbing as it did so.   
“A wisp?” he whispered, glancing at the others who looked just as dumbfounded as he did, “That’s a wisp right? We should follow it!”  
“Aren’t they… dangerous? Like don’t they lead people astray?” Keith whispered, and Lance realised quite how close they were. Also… they were still holding hands, though with the faint light from the wisp, this was unnecessary. Keith seemed to realise this in the exact same moment, and dropped Lance’s hand as if he had been burned.   
“Wisps aren’t dangerous,” Lance responded, bringing his now too-cold hand into the pocket of his hoodie, “At least not to us. Think they are to humans?” he cast a glance at Hunk and Pidge who nodded along. Keith raised his shoulders so that they met his ears in response. Before Lance could question this lack of knowledge, Keith spoke up.   
“Well… does that mean we are safe here now. We can stop?” Lance followed Keith’s gaze to Shiro, who was slumped over Hunk’s shoulders. Hunk for the most part also looked relieved to be stopping, or at the very least, relieved that they could finally be safe. To everyone’s surprise however, it was Shiro who suggested that they push on.   
“No… wisps generally want to lead people places. Either they mislead humans, or they can be helpful to us… I suggest we trust them,” his tone didn’t leave everyone with a huge sense of confidence, but his point was made. Lance sighed. 

“Well. Guess we had better follow the glowy lights then!” he said, masking any of his own doubts under a layer of bravery. Keith was next to follow him, and then, with Hunk shouldering Shiro at the back. The wisp didn’t move as Lance approached, but merely seemed to fade, vanishing into nothing as he came close to touching it. After a split second of panic as they were all doused in darkness, Lance spotted another wisp light up not to far. And a few seconds after that one, a second. And then a third.   
“They are taking us somewhere!” he whispered under his breath, and promptly began to speed up. In the darkness of the forest, all Lance could see now was the wisps. He paused just long enough to make sure his friends were keeping up with him, casting a quick glance of her shoulder, and through the fur of his coat. There was little point in keeping up the glamour now they were almost certainly safe, and it seemed more respectful to the wisps. Lance noted most of the others had had the same idea. He didn’t stay still for long in waiting for them however. Something told him that if he did, the wisps would not wait in turn, and then they would all truly lost in this wood. As such, the pace Lance dictated was unforgiving, and he barely even questioned why he was the one leading the group, when it had been Shiro’s idea after all. 

They seemed to be walking for hours, and the forest steadily did start to get lighter. Lance began to see more than just the wisps, but the details of the trees, and the colours littering the scene around them. The light was far from sunlight however. Instead it seemed to radiate from various places, becoming more numerous as they got deeper. First it started with the occasional glowing mushroom. Then fireflies began to appear. The the lichen growing yp the trees began to glow in patches, with small glowing frogs hoping amongst the leaves. Lance had to pause for a moment again to take it all in. They had undoubtedly entered somewhere truly magical, yet the wisps where still there, still guding him forwards. He heard the gentle gasps of Pidge and Hunk, even Shiro. The flowers in the trees were glowing now too, and they dropped petals down upon the small travelling group. The wisps somehow… slowed, despite the fact they weren’t moving themselves. But Lance found himself able to relax, to move slower. They had likely reached the end of their journey, and what a place they had found.  
They had been led to a small glade within the forest, unlike anything Lance had ever seen, and judging by the awestruck looks on everyone else’s faces, it was unlike anything they had seen either. The trees had provided a small clearly, though leaned inwards to provide cover, with the exception of one spot, through which the moon could be seen perfectly. Towards one side of the grotto was a large, glowing, pool, something Lance had been sorely missing. He had managed to stay in his human form for hours, definitely breaking his own record. It would certainly be some level of relief to allow himself to change back into a seal and swim. Even if it was in magical glowing water. The other side of the glade was what could only be described as a sleeping area. Plush grass and leaves piled, though still fresh, almost as if they had been left there in preparation for the small group.   
However, before Lance could go to his pool, and the others take Shiro to the plush area, their gaze was drawn to a pair of small trees at the end of the glade, somehow different to anything else. One was a tall, thin Birch. The second was unlike anything Lance had seen, a tree with a deep brown bark, and covered with white and light pink flowers in lieu of leaves.   
“These can’t be real,” Shiro whispered from the back of the group, pushing away from Hunk just long enough to get closer to the two trees. His face was a mask of awe, and Keith was clearly going to ask what Shiro meant, when suddenly the two trees began to glow every so faintly. Lance hurried to get a better look at the closest one, with the beautiful flowers, when out of nowhere a girl feel straight out of the bark, and into his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wanted to get this out before the new season tomorrow!   
> ooooh :) 
> 
> This chapter was also harder to get started with for some reason... so hope it still reads good 
> 
> Also - thanks to people teaching me the language of pick-up trucks!  
> I've never known anyone who has driven one ^_^;


	8. Paladins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having fled the Galra, and in dire need of rest; the group find themselves in a peaceful clearing; wherein which they are given a very important request...

Keith watched with some level of amazement as the girl just… fell out of the tree, and conveniently into Lance’s arms. He felt a very slightly pang of anger, perhaps some level of suspicion or distrust. After all, how many girls fell out of trees?  
He was by their sides in moments, but any irritation was washed away when he saw how tired and somehow… frail the girl looked. That was until she gazed up at Lance, her face quickly becoming a mask of horror. Any sign of frailty was lost of she reached to grab Lance’s ear, somehow flipping him over to the ground with a yelp. Keith was immediately by his side, and the others oft heir small group immediately to their aid, even Shiro.  
“Who?” the girl whispered, as she calmed enough to look around at them.  
As she did, the second tree glowed in a similar manner, and with a bit more grace, a tall man with skin like beech-tree bark stepped out.  
“Dryads…” Shiro whispered, his grey eyes wide as he slowly knelt to the ground in some sort of reverence. Keith watched as Pidge and Hunk shared that same wide eyed gaze, before following suit. Keith instead grit his teeth, and turned on the pair of tree-people.  
Sure enough they didn’t actually look all that human, now that he got a decent enough look. Both of them had skin similar to the bark of the trees they had stepped from. The girl was darked and smooth in tone, compared to the man who looked considerably older. Her hair was entirely made from the same blossoms of her tree, a light pattern of whites and pinks that fell past her shoulders and light blue dress. She eyed him with blue eyes that put Lance’s to shame, hers were flecked with pink and purple to give some ethereal sparkle.  
“Princess,” the man spoke, rushing to the girl’s side,” Allura are you alright?”  
“Y...Yes Coran. Just a bit shaken,” she nodded, glancing once more at the others, “Though it appears our glade has been found. You can rise, if you tell us how you found this place?” there was a slight edge to her voice, a slight amount of distrust, and Keith wondered if it was, in part, due to him. After all, he was still glamoured.  
At the question however, Lance pulled his face unceremoniously from the ground, though remained seated, legs stretched out ungainly in front of him.  
“We followed the wisps. We needed somewhere safe after… well. We needed somewhere we could rest safely, and they just… led us here?” he gave a shrug, wiping leaf and dirt from his hands on his jeans. Keith wrinkled his nose.  
“We are safe here, right?” he asked, folding his arms defensively. The man, Coran, seemed to take him in for the first time, jumping slightly as his eyes went wide. He took a moment, before seeming to settle down, and twirl the leaves that seemed to make up an autumn coloured moustache on his face.  
“Marvellous glamour there sir. But, you’ll find it unwarranted. This glade is the last safe haven for the fae of this land, and likely many others,” he stood up straight, placing fists on either of his hips in an almost comical way. The girl, the apparent princess, dusted her own gown in an automatic gesture.  
“The wisps led you five here? How can that be?” she cast a glance at Coran.  
“Maybe… Maybe they are the ones who can help us?” he murmured back, and Keith frowned as Allura’s nose wrinkled.  
“We… just needed a place to rest. To hide for now, but don’t wish to impo…” he started, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His gaze flicked to Shiro who had stood up from the ground, though he was putting more pressure than usual on Keith’s shoulder, showing that his hand was there as more than just a comfort to Keith.  
“Help with what?” he asked simply, and Keith flashed Shiro a desperate look. Shiro, who was sporting a still rather fresh looking bandaged stump, was more focused on helping these dryads than getting himself any rest. Not for the first time, Keith wished he knew just more about fae, the different types, and then he might understand the importance of these ones. Why everyone else had knelt before them.  
“Why, with the…” Allura cast her gaze over Shiro, and let out a small gasp as she spotted Shiro’s arm. With a very small noise of dispute from Coran, she rushed forward in a graceful swoop, not even asking before she placed one gentle hand on Shiro’s shoulder, whilst the other hovered whee his arm should have been.  
“Your… your arm. It’s missing?” she whispered, giving another squeak as Shiro lifted the stump, and removed his other hand from Keith’s shoulder, allowing Keith to take a few steps away. Shiro’s brave facade seemed to falter for the most brief of seconds, as his exhaustion and sorrow tried to break through. Allura’s gaze was piercing as she focused it back on Shiro, so much so that Keith took another step backwards, incidentally closer to Lance who had finally decided to stand up. Keith cast a sideways glance at Lance, who was gazing at Allura with some sort of lovestruck gaze, but it was so clearly wasted. Somehow, this annoyed Keith, and he felt he need to say something to somehow.. distract Lance, and draw that gaze away.  
“Coran! Can you get the bayard seeds?” Allura suddenly barked, distracting them all.  
“Princess?” he questioned, but only for a moment, as she focused her glare on him. As soon as Coran turned back to the trees, and vanished just behind the, Allura turned to the rest of them, their small group of five.  
“As I am sure you five may well know, our forest is dying. We are slowly losing more and more trees to the humans. With the arrival of the Galra, we will lose what little we have left. Our final home, and any semblance of peace or privacy. The humans are greedy, and will take our very lives. We must protect what little we have left and…” she cast her gaze over to Coran, who reappeared cradling something presumably very precious, “we cannot do this alone. Coran and I… we are the last Dryads of this forest, this land. And we have been waiting and hoping that others able to help us, and worthy of our gifts, would arrive,” Allura seemed to pluck one of the things from Coran’s hands, and raised it up for them to see. It was a small seed, nothing more. But with a little of Allura’s concentration, it seemed to glow a deep purple.  
“You five were brought here for a reason. I believe you can help, and these gifts can help,”  
It was at this moment that Shiro finally sank down to his knees, unable to remain strong. Keith was about to rush to his side, but Lance held him back. He cast a glower over his shoulder, before realising that Allura was already at Shiro’s side, kneeling net to him as he swayed slightly.  
She still held the small seed, and it seemed to glow all the more strongly as it was brought closer to Shiro.  
“I… believe you are the right ones. You could be our paladins, but I understand the burden we ask of you,” she spoke, though her voice was quiet, as if directed at Shiro. Somehow Keith knew that whatever Shiro decided, the others would likely follow. Because that’s just the sort of person Shiro was. A leader.  
“But first… I believe you should rest here for the night. As you have said, you have experienced a few troubles…”  
With that, Coran immediately led the small group to where they could sleep for the night. The space seeming far too open for Keith’s liking. And far too close to where the others would sleep. As he did this, Allura quickly tended to Shiro’s arm. She unwrapped the bandages and seemingly tried to sooth the open wound. Worry furrowed Keith’s brow as he approached slowly, keeping an eye on what she was up to. She spoke with Shiro quietly, clearly asking more about what had happened to him, and he spoke back equally as quiet. Keith felt a small pang of jealousy ripple through him, as he had yet to hear the details of hat had happened to Shiro. But before he could approach any closer, Lance’s face appeared in front of him, and far too close for his liking.  
“Hey Keith! Coran said I could use the pool,” his grin was almost contagious. Almost.  
“And you are telling me this because?” Keith cast his gaze away, towards the pool in question.  
“You looked a little down,” Lance gave a small shrug, “and perhaps you’d like a quick dip before I claim it?”  
Keith’s nose wrinkled. The pool didn’t look particularly deep. But anything deeper than a bathtub was generally a no-no, so Keith shook his head. Lance gave a small pout, before he bounded off to return to seal form for the night. His lack of interest didn’t stop Keith from following Lance to the edge of the pool however. After all, he still barely knew Hunk and Pidge, and the pair seemed about ready to settle down for the night where Coran had shown them. And Shiro was busy with Allura, who was now patiently binding his wound with leaves. This struck Keith and not quite hygienic, but he was certain there was some other magic at play.  
“You know… we are completely safe here,” Lance said, as he slowly sat by the edge of the pool, bunching his knees up under his chin and watching the water lap at his toes, “You could let up the glamour. Just for a bit.”  
Keith gave a small sigh, as he sat by Lance, mimicking the selkie’s position. He didn’t really have any excuse beyond just habit.Though not even Shiro had seen him un-glamoured, and he quietly told Lance this. Somehow, this seemed to be just enough.  
“Well. I hope to see you for you one day. When you are ready of course,”  
Keith couldn’t help but stare at Lance, a little in awe of the rare moment of raw honesty, and complete understanding. Without acknowledging his stare, Lance merely stretched out, and finally seemed to relax. He let himself sink into the forest floor, belly to the sky for a moment, before he stood up slowly.  
“So uh… I might change back now,” he seemed to be warning Keith, who merely nodded, not really putting the pieces together. Not until Lance gave a small shrug, and started to peel his clothes of.  
“Lance!”  
“What did you expect?”

Keith didn’t sleep well that night. Between Hunk’s snores, and Pidge’s flailing. Least, that was where he tried to place the blame. The dryads had returned to their trees for the night, and even Shiro had seemed comfortable enough in the bedding area. Or he was tired enough for it not to bother him. Keith on the other hand felt all to exposed. And he didn’t take well to sleeping so close to others. He lay on his back, staring at the stars that could be seen between the branches. He knew he should sleep, even if it were for just a couple of hours, but sleep definitely seemed to be evading him. It seemed futile to try. Or at least here. He sat up and tried to get a look at the clearing, but since Allura and Coran had returned to their slumber, everything had gotten significantly darker. The only source of light was whatever moon and starlight trickled through, and the small pool which glowed when it was splashed by Lance. It seemed Keith wasn’t the only one getting as much sleep as he should have been. Without much thought, he was on his feet and moving towards the pool; perhaps seeking some level of company in the night. Or perhaps because he had become accustomed to relaxing by the waterside at night. It certainly wasn’t because he was used to spending his nights with Lance of all things.  
“Can’t sleep, mullet?” Lance’s whiskered face poked out suddenly, the brief glow of the water fading around his face as he stilled.  
“Ugh,” Keith regretted coming to the side of the pool instantly, and nearly turned to return back to the sleeping area. Perhaps he could find a spot where he was less at risk of being punched by Pidge…  
“Hey! Don’t go!” Lance cried out, and splashed some more, such that Keith had to stop and shush him, “Keeeith. It’ll be just like old times sake. Only now I’m a fully functional and talented selkie,” he gave a cheeky grin, if ever a seal could do such a thing.  
“Yeah, and thanks to who?” Keith’s voice was soft, so as to not wake anyone else. Lance merely poked his tongue out in response. They let the silence wash over them for a few moments, and Keith slowly lay down at the poolside, listening to the oh so gentle lapping of the water.  
“Do you… do you think you’ll stay here?” Lance eventually asked, and Keith turned his head. The stars were reflected in Lance’s blue eyes.  
“I…” Keith started to answer, thinking back to Shiro’s determination, “I guess I will. I think,”  
“Mm. It;s kinda hard to sit around and do nothing. Now that we’ve had very real first hand experience I mean. But how much can we five do?” Lance’s voice was sad. Keith hummed in agreement as the silence settled between them once again.  
What could they do. They were so outnumbered by the Galra alone, and then there were so many non-Galra humans too. It seemed rather hopeless.

At some point in the night, Keith had managed to drift off, and it was with a gentle lapping of water at his fingertips that he was able to wake up. That and a faceful of seal breath, as Lance had seemingly pulled himself onto land just to aim a good yawn right up Keith’s nostrils.  
“Ugh. Lance… the worst,” he groaned as he tried to push the now laughing seal away.  
“Had to wake you up somehow there,” Lance explained himself, and Keith sat up to see he was the last to rise. Judging by the height of the sun in the sky, it was about midday, and later than Keith preferred to rise. Conversely the rest of the fae group were tired and cranky, this apparently being earlier than most of them rose. After all, Hunk and Pidge were largely nocturnal, most of their activity done during the night as the humans slept. Coran and Allura however seemed to busy themselves. Allura was preoccupied with the bayard seeds she had presented to them yesterday, and Coran seemed to be fixing up something to eat. When Hunk clicked onto this, he certainly seemed to wake up, and even elected to help Coran. It didn’t look like anything particularly exciting, but food was food. So their small group gathered towards the centre of the clearing to eat, and as they did, Coran and Allura better explained their position.  
They had once been a part of a wider group of dryads living in, and ruling, the forest. Humans had steadily been pushing further and further back, which eventually led to the significant loss of dryad life. In the end, Coran and Allura had been forced to retreat to the very depths, where they had hidden themselves in the hopes that this small part of forest left would remain safe. Without forest, and with the remaining fae having fled the area, they conserved their energy by entering a deep slumber within their respective trees.  
It had been safe enough… until the Galra had appeared.  
“But not long after, you five arrived here. I cannot believe this is just coincidence,” Allura’s gaze focused on each of them individually, “of course,if you still wish to leave us, I understand… We are asking a lot-”  
“I think I can speak for all of us here when I say; your plight is ours, princess,” Shiro said, and as he turned, everyone else nodde, even Lance bobbed his seal head. The relief in Allura’s eyes was so much, that they began to well up with tears. She swallowed them quickly, before rising gracefully to her feet.  
“Well… we should be get started then!”

Shiro, obviously, was first to receive his bayard seed. Allura once more explained what they were, and what they were likely to do. Shiro had also removed the small amount of bandaging on his missing arm, a look in his eye signalling just what he expected. Together him and Allura were knelt just in front of her tree, the blossoms blowing in the breeze. Holding his breath, Keith watched Shiro raise his good arm, and place it gently on Allura’s shoulder. She gasped slightly at the contact, but their eyes met. Some sort of understanding flew between them.  
“I have seen the Galra humans up close. I know the damage they can, and will, cause. I am willing to help in any way possible,”  
Allura’s jaw clenched with determination as she gave a nod.  
“I would like to bestow this bayard on you, Shiro. Each seed takes a different form depending on the receiver. With it, I hope you will be able to help us in whatever way you see fit. With this you will be our first paladin,” Allura’s cheeks were tinted a pink to match Shiro’s, as she gently placed the seed in his remaining hand. It seemed to glow, as she took a few steps back, bathing Shiro in a purple light.  
When it finally faded, Shiro was already on his feet. And where his missing arm had been was an entirely knew one, made of wood, with purple lighting glowing through the cracks and knots that formed his fingers and knuckles.  
He clenched his new fist with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out longer than I hoped: woo :D  
> fun things I had to google this week = does leaving your hand in water really make you pee whilst you sleep?  
> answer - no. Not it doesn't :P
> 
> Also love to those who leave me comments :')  
> always makes my day!


	9. Bayards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang each receives their bayard,  
> though Lance has some brief struggles first. 
> 
> Is this fluff?

After seeing the success of Shiro’s bayard seed, Lance could barely contain his excitement. Would they all get new limbs? No… that was silly. Allura had said the seed would bond with whoever it was given to, and have a new and different form for each of them. But it would also be something useful, something they could use in their fight against the Galra. Despite his excitement, Lance wasn’t particular in a rush to get his bayard. Firstly, he still wanted to see what everyone else would get, so he could make an educated guess. 

Also… receiving it would mean that he would have to try and shift human again, and though he was more confident in his ability to do that now, it still wasn’t as second nature as he would like. He had definitely overdone it the night before, and as exhilarating as it had been, he was so glad to be back in the water. So much so that he hadn’t initially wanted to drag himself out of the water for breakfast; but the prospect of food was too much. Even if it were weird plant food stuff that Lance definitely didn’t have much of a taste for. He much preferred fish, but the pool he had spent the night in was void of life other than plants, and the occasional small frog. And he wasn’t that hungry. 

No one seemed to question his presence in seal form, and if anything, it seemed to help Allura warm to him a bit more. And Lance certainly was not one to dismiss any attention from a rather gorgeous dryad, even if it were for only a few minutes of head scratching, before she seemed completely smitten with Shiro once more. Though Lance knew he should have known better than to try and compete against Shiro, anything was worth a shot. Though for now, Allura was busy inspecting Shiro’s new arm, as if she hadn’t realised that sucha thing could have been possible. It was also pretty damn impressive, though Lance couldn’t help but note the sour look on Keith’s face. It didn’t seem likely he would be jealous of the attention from Allura as Lance knew he was, just a little. Instead Lance knew that face, because it was one his younger siblings had shared.

“You and Shiro are pretty close right?” he said, waddling as much as he could towards Keith, who gave a little jump, like he hadn’t realised he had been staring.   
“Something like that…” he answered quietly, not meeting Lance’s gaze. Lance didn’t get a chance to ask any more, because Allura was done with Shiro, and offering the next seed. It contrasted Shiro’s with a red glow, and so it just felt right that this one would belong to Keith. Lance chose to join Hunk and Pidge whilst they watched as Keith willingly accepted the seed as it was bestowed upon him.   
Allura gave a small speech as she did so, once again reiterating the importance of what their mission would be, before dropping the small thing in Keith’s hand. Unlike Shiro, the glow was less impressive, likely because the seed didn’t need to replace a body part. Instead a short dagger seemed to grow within Keith’s hand. Allura took a nervous step back, and tilted her head to look at the dagger. It didn’t much resemble an ordinary metal blade, but nor did it seem like it was wood either, like Shiro’s arm appeared. Still, Keith had pressed a single finger to the edge of the blade, and seemed impressed by it’s sharpness. With a twirl of his wrist, it seemed to vanish, though Lance spotted he was left with just the seed cradled in his palm. 

“You should not have to worry about losing the seeds themselves. Once bonded, they will retain an almost magnetic attraction to you,” Allura explained with a small smile, as Keith approached Shiro’s side, still gazing at his own seed. 

After Keith, Pidge, then Hunk, were rewarded with their seeds. Pidge had explained to Allura that she fully intended on using hers to rescue Matt, and Allura countered by highlighting the best way to save her brother was indeed, to investigate and fight again the Galra. Both reached a steady agreement, and Pidge’s bayard was revealed a a cloak, seemingly made from plant fibres. It wasn’t much to look at, until Pidge threw it across her shoulder’s and the group learned some of the true magical power hidden within the seeds, as Pidge’s form flickered out of sight. 

“If only we had had something like this yesterday,” her voice appeared next to Hunk, who had leapt out of his skin before catching his breath and going to receive his bayard from Allura. Lance snickered until Hunk’s bayard was revealed to be a large, solid shield. Somehow this felt incredibly fitting, both because Hunk was certainly strong enough to carry such a thing, but also just because Hunk was that type of person. With a sigh, Lance thought it best to prepare to receive his own seed. This would mean having to change to human form, so he dragged himself towards the pool, and towards the clothes he had borrowed from Keith. He wanted to be wearing pants when he received his weapon. Lance cast a glance at Keith as he neared the pool, and noted that he was comparing bayards with Shiro, and admiring Shiro’s new arm. Lance felt a small crease form between his eyebrows as he thought about how Keith hadn’t really said much about how he and Shiro knew one another. Not that it should matter, but somehow, to Lance, it did. He still tried to shake away the distraction as he quickly took a glance around to make sure no one was watching him. Of course, there was. 

“Hoping to see something to your liking princess?” he said with a flirty wink, the effect of which completely ruined by Allura’s genuine nod.   
“Oh yes! I’ve never seen a selkie shift before,” she said, emphatically placing her hands together. This drew Shiro’s attention, and just as Lance opened his mouth to reply, gave a single warning bark of “Lance!”. With a small pout, Lance decided to quell the princess’s interest.   
“Well. Probably best you avert your gaze anyway. The others let me know very quickly the selkie cloak doesn’t leave much to the imagination…” he said off, and watched as the words sunk in, turning Allura’s face pink.   
“O…oh!” she squeaked, immediately turning away her gaze as Lance received a slight glare from Coran. He grumbled something about not being able to really help it, before closing his eyes with a deep breath. 

He tried to mimic the feelings of when he had last shifted, the thoughts running through his mind and… nothing. He thumped a still-seal tail on the forest floor, and gritted his still-seal teeth in frustration.   
No… he was just getting distracted. He was letting himself get distracted. Though now that he was clearly struggling a little bit, the forest around them went a fraction quieter. Lance could tell they were waiting, not necessarily wanting to look, but also just… waiting for him. And that pressure just made everything that much harder. He lost his own focus as the anxiety started to settle in. He had only managed to shift long enough to get himself trapped in another, smaller pool. Further from his family, and more isolated than ever. He wouldn’t even be able to keep up his promise, his offer of help to Allura. A seal couldn’t wield any sort of weapon. He knew that his thoughts were spiralling out of control, but it was so hard to stop them. He… just needed to cool his head for a bit. Casting a quick glance of his shoulder to check that everyone’s eyes were cast away, he made the last fews pulls and dragged himself into the pool.   
As his head went under the cooling water, he heard someone, maybe Keith, start to shout his name,though quickly shushed, most likely by Hunk. They would undoubtedly talk about him, and Lance couldn’t stand that. As much as he liked attention, he hated it when he wasn’t there to bask. Not that this was likely something he wanted to hear, so he made sure to swim as deep as he could, having taken in a sufficient gulp of air to hold. The pool was nice enough, and even rather calming as he allowed himself to gently float. It wasn’t long at all before someone came to check up on him,though of all the people he had been expecting, it was Shiro’s face appearing above the water. A small pang of guilt went through his stomach, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. 

 

“Oh… hey, Keith,” Lance said, hating how awkward his voice sounded as his head poked up through the water. Keith edged away from the water’s edge, eyes looking slightly relieved as he leaned backward.   
“Hunk, uh. He said you might need just a bit of space, but…” Keith’s eyes cast away, and Lance followed his gaze to the other fae. They had now busied themselves, talking with Allura and Coran. Coran in particular seemed to be fascinated with the different bayards, and especially interested in Pidge’s.   
“Do you… not want to fight? I know we talked about this last night but…” Keith was blunt as ever, though continued to keep his gaze focused away from Lance. Lance who took in a gulping breath.   
“Yeah… I mean I do want to help,” he said, trying to out his determination into words. He wasn’t sure he succeeded much, as Keith turned back to him with a dark fire in his eyes.   
“Well then stop soaking and get your bayard,” he said with a bit more bite than Lance had been expecting. Lance felt the fur on the back of his neck stand in irritation and he almost bared his teeth back at the pooka.   
“It’s not so easy, you know,”  
“I do know. I know exactly how hard it can be. But you did it before, so,” Keith gave a small shrug, and Lance let his nostrils sink just below the water in resignation. He childishly blew bubbles for a few moments, continuing to glare at Keith. Keith gave a frustrated sigh, before leaning closer towards the water.   
“Lance. I really do understand. But please try again for m-for us. For us all,”   
Lance blinked slowly at Keith, poking his nostrils above the water for a quick suck in of the air. His eyes widened in the moment a small idea formed, and he could have sworn Keith edged backwards a little bit.   
“If you swim with me sometime,” he proposed, and he could have sworn Keith’s face went red.   
“What? What does that have to do with anything?” he said. He had definitely moved further away from the edges of the pool.   
“I dunno really,” Lance lied, “just motivation. Like you clearly don’t like the water bud. But it’s really great. So the motivation of sharing something I love,” Lance gave a half truth. At the very least, it was as much of the truth as he wanted to admit, even to himself.   
With a very coy nod, Keith said “you can’t do this every time, you know,”. It was more than Lance could have hoped for. He gave a sealish grin, and splashed the water, causing Keith to flinch back once again. 

It seemed too simple, but really. A good strong mental image of swimming helped. And not normal swimming, that brought up painful memories of his family. But swimming with this new group with Keith. That was something Lance could look forward to. It would be even better if he could swim in his human form. That way he could teach Keith. And the others, of course. With a mind full of sharing something he loved, and the warm feeling in his gut that Keith had been worried enough about him to try an talk things through, Lance felt better able to shift. He rose shakily to his feet with a yelp, and was only saved by a very red-faced Keith from falling back down. 

“Guess I owe you a swim some point. Get some pants on,” Keith said, not meeting Lance’s gaze as he let go of the selkie’s shoulders and turned on his heel to return to the group. Lance could just about hear the questions they were asking Keith as he hurriedly pulled on a pair of pants. His legs were better than before at least. A little bit wobbly, but having spent so much time on his feet had definitely helped. He still managed to trip himself up pulling on the trousers, narrowly missing falling back into the pool. But he managed it, and smiling to himself, returned to the group. He felt Allura and Coran eye him more carefully, as if expected some level of showboating, but after his struggle, Lance did not feel much up to it. Instead, he bowed his head very briefly to Allura.   
“Princess. I would be honoured to receive my bayard now. I am sorry for the delay,” he said, perhaps with a little more pomp and circumstance than he intended. So best to own it. He knelt on his top in an over the top manner, allowing a sly grin to fall onto his face. 

“I am certain you will be most impressed,” he gave a wink, and heard Keith click his tongue to the side. Lance let himself get momentarily distracted, giving the pooka a small glance, before turning back to Allura. She did not seem much more impressed with his flamboyance, but brought out the final blue seed regardless.   
“Lance. This is our final bayard seed, and with it, you shall complete our group of five paladins. I know you have heard it now many times, but I must insist you know and are ready for the potential dangers of this task, of what you must do to help us keep what little forest we have left. You will be the last of our guardians in this haven,” her voice almost seemed to shake with emotion. This somehow helped the words sink in better, in a way that hadn’t when Lance had been watching the others. He glance at them briefly. His team. His new family, if he dared to say that quite yet. Hunk gave him a small nod, and Pidge a tiny thumbs up. As if he needed the encouragement. 

“Of course princess,” he said, his grin fading into a more genuine smile.   
“Very well,” she said, as she dropped the seed into his open palms below. In that moment, Lance was awash with a faint blue light. It wasn’t hot like he expected, but cool. Not unpleasantly so, but in a way that simply felt right. Like he was meant to be bathed in this light, like this was what his struggles had led to. The seed seemed to grow into his hands, the main source of the glow. It strengthened itself into firm wood, which steadily grew longer, and just started to curve. At either end of his curved pole, small blue flowers bloomed for decoration.   
And then the light faded. 

And Lance was left, the centre of attention. Holding what seemed to be a curved stick, with small flowers at either end. He weighed in in his hands, before turning to the princess, and to Coran.

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long update >.<
> 
> Personal life got a bit whacky with job hunting and such
> 
> Plus I spent far, far too long trying to think what bayard-forms would both suit characters, be enough of a reference to the show  
> but also make for good plot devices?
> 
> Maybe I should have done more plotting ahead  
> I know how this is gonna end  
> just not when  
> or what happens in between xD


	10. We had a bonding moment!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins think of their first anti-Galra plan, but Keith worries too much.

Keith watched as Lance palmed his bayard, spinning the piece of wood round, and round and round. As if just spinning it would make it’s purpose any clearer to anyone.   
“Maybe it’s a lance? Like you know?” hunk offered, but Lance merely shook his head in response.   
“Nah man. Those are usually straight. A bent lance feels kinda useless. Unless,” Lance hummed to himself, his face drooping. Hunk shared a worried glance with Pidge, but by the time he turned back Lance had collapsed the bayard back into it’s seed form and tucked it away with a small smirk.   
“So, we gonna start planning how to deal with the humans and the Galra?” he asked, that grin not fading. It made Keith feel ever so slightly uneasy, like something was off. But no one else seemed to notice, and Keith had never been great at reading people. SO he just went with it, ignoring his gut feeling. After all, he had not known Lance long at all. Though he couldn’t help but feel a bit warm and fuzzy at the thought that it was his offer of him swimming with Lance that had encouraged the selkie to shift. Even if the thought of swimming made Keith’s blood run cold. But there was time to worry about that later.  
For now, they were apparently making plans. Which largely just meant catching Allura and Coran up on what the humans of Galra seemed to be doing. They had apparently been in tree-stasis for quite some time, and whilst this offered some loose level of awareness of the outside world, they hadn’t been able to see much beyond the shrinking forest, nor get a good idea of the time that had past without them. Shiro seemed to be the most knowledgeable on this, both from his plans with Matt, but also his up close and personal recent experience. Not that he talked about that as much as he could have. In fact, he said little more about it than they already knew.  
“So, as you can see, their influence has spread quite a bit,” Shiro had used his flesh hand to finish drawing a diagram in the mud, trying to better highlight the Galra movements in the surrounding area. Allura tilted her head, much in the same way that everyone else had done, in an effort to better understand the scrawlings.   
“O-oh. Yes thanks Shiro,” Allura smiled, turning her gaze to Shiro instead. Keith rose an eyebrow at Shiro, who caught the look in a glance and at least had the decency to go very slightly pink.   
“What about the nearby camp? Do you think they are planning more? I mean, that is what you and Matt went to investigate right?” Pidge spoke fast, leaning into to look at the mud-drawing, and poking one area repeatedly. Apparently it made some amount of sense to her, somehow. Keith tried tilting his had again and still couldn’t quite see it, so took her word for it that she was pointing at what should be the camp they had rescued Shiro from. Shiro himself paled slightly at the question, opening and shutting his mouth.   
“I’m sorry. My head’s still pretty scrambled, so everything up to and including the escape is a blur,”  
Pidge barely managed to hide her disappointment, so it fell to Keith to pat Shiro on the shoulder, feeding her a very faint glare. It was a rare for Keith to offer such comfort, so Shiro gave him a thankful look. Pidge gave a small sigh and nodded. The silence that feel between them felt just a little bit awkward, until, of course, Lance spoke up. As usual he seemed unable to read the mood.   
“Well. How about we do some reconnaissance,” he spoke. Keith adjusted his thinking. Perhaps Lance was good at reading the mood.   
“Reconnaissance?” Keith clarified, and tried to stare Lance down as Lance turned to him with an eyebrow raised.   
“Yeah. Like spying! You know?”  
“I know what reconnaissance means Lance. I just meant that we need more details. What sort of reconnaissance? Is it not,” he gave Shiro a quick glance, one that he knew Lance would pick up on, “isn’t that just a bit dangerous? A bit risky?” Keith gripped his bayard, still in sword form, tightly. After all, the majority of them had some form of weapons, something to be used in fights. It was sensible to expect some level of fighting in what they were likely to be doing.   
“Yeah well. We have Pidge’s cloak now? We can infiltrate using invisibility,” Lance rightfully pointed out with a decisive nod. Keith rolled his eyes with a grumble, before the team as a whole turned to Pidge. She flicked her cloak to show off the size. It would maybe squeeze two of them, at a push. But certainly no more than that. Sending in Pidge alone definitely seemed too risky, and Shiro was very quick to point this out.   
“Will we both fit underneath that?” he said, nodding at it. Pidge looked down at the cloak in her hands, then back at Shiro. She chewed her lip.   
“No!” Keith butted in. Shiro had already been taken once, he could not risk that happening again.   
“No? It makes more sense for me to go Keith. After all, I did planning for the original mission. I know a lot of details. And perhaps I could remember something of use, perhaps I could help Pidge find Matt…”  
Shiro stood tall, doing that intimidating “big brother” thing that Keith hated so much, because it was so hard to argue against.   
“What if…” Allura started, but paused, thinking over her words too much. Luckily Coran seemed to pick up on her idea. The two dryads having a more extensive awareness of the variety of fae and their talents.   
“What if you were small? You two are pooka, are you not? You could shift into animal forms. In fact. You might not even need the cloak depending on how you look, though likely best not to risk that much,” Coran spoke quickly, glancing between Keith and Shiro. Shiro seemed to nod slowly, before he turned to look at Keith. Keith who knew that his face had started to go red. He felt both of the dryads start to focus their gaze on him. And following them, the rest of the team. His mind went blank as all he could do was grit his teeth, turn on his heel, and stalk into the forest.   
“Keith!” came out a single cry from Shiro, but luckily no one tried to follow him. He just… needed a few moments alone, that was all. 

Keith had probably taken more than a few moments alone. It felt almost like almost an hour or so, though that was more on account of him not really doing anything, making the time he spent sat with his knees against his chest amongst the trees drag. He poked idly at the dirt beside him, his cheek resting on his knees. He would definitely have a mark on his face when he moved, but for the moment he did not feel like moving. It would only be a matter of time before Shiro, most likely, came to look for him. Though Shiro was good at knowing when to leave him be. Ironically, it was not Shiro at all. Which probably explained why he had probably not gotten as much time as he needed.   
In some weird parody of that very morning, it was Lance who came to Keith. Keith almost snorted at the irony of it. He had somehow helped Lance shift, after all. But knew that Lance would certainly not be able to do the reverse for him.   
“Hey, bud…” Lance said quietly, walking up on Keith’s blind side. With a sigh, Keith pulled his face from his knees. His cheek felt hot from where it had been pressed into the bone for so long. Lance slowly crouched beside Keith, who trie to make a point of looking away. Staring off into the forest in front of him. Away from the clearing which Lance had come from. The silence that settled between them was not… it wasn’t as uncomfortable as Keith would have expected. If anything, it almost felt nice. Nice to not be so alone, but also to not have the pressure. After a few more minutes of silence, Lance slipped quietly from his feet and onto his bum beside Keith, twisting to leave back against the same tree, though spreading his legs out in front of him. They sat like that for some time, and Keith could feel the warmth of Lance rolling off him. It was somehow comforting. Comforting enough that eventually, Keith felt like he could speak.   
“I can’t do it, you know,” he said, voice slightly muffled on account of his jaw being rested heavily on his knees. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lance turned to him with eyebrows raised, but focused on not looking back. 

“You can’t… shift you mean?” Lance prompted, and Keith gave apathetic half nod. Which was more just him jerking his head. He gave up, and pulled his chin away from his knees, resting his head against the tree behind him. This gave him a better view of the blue sky between the trees after all.   
“No. I mean I think I should be able to. And I feel like maybe I could. But I don’t know how,” Keith knew he was being vague, but there were some things he just wasn’t ready to share. Not yet.   
“What do you mean? If you are a pooka, then as Allura said, you can definitely do it. You just might be struggling like me, right?”  
“It’s more difficult for me though. I can’t explain why, it just… is,” Keith felt his ears go hot, and he turned his head away from Lance. Lance who then had the decency to not qualm this, or question it further.  
“That’s why you were able to help me,” he spoke quietly instead, his voice warm. Keith gave a small snort of laughter, seemingly surprising Lance if the small twitch e gave was anything to go by. Keith tried his best to ignore how close this meant they were, and continued speaking instead.   
“Yeah but I didn’t. Not really. Did I?” Keith questioned, not really expecting a result.   
“Of course you did! Maybe not in the way you thought. But you gave me the idea. And I dunno. You were there?”  
“So were Hunk and Pidge,” Keith pointed out. Instead of an immediate response, Lance just gave a shrug.   
“I dunno. I think it was just you,” he spoke quickly, moving on before the words could fully start to register in Keith’s mind, “so I figure I could help you somehow. I mean there really is no pressure, if you don’t want to. I doubt it would matter too much for the upcoming mission anyway. So take your time. But it would be great if you could,”  
Keith raised his head once again to look at Lance. To really look at him. Now it was Lance’s turn to not meet his eyes. Lance who had a healthy amount of colour in his cheeks as he stared into the distance, and faint smile playing on the corners of his lips, though he almost seemed too nervous to smile fully.   
“And how exactly are you going to help?” Keith said, raising an eyebrow. Lance turned at him to frown, whatever weird and heavy feeling that had come over the both of them fading in favour of the light hearted banter.   
“I dunno. Just be there. Make suggestions. Do you even know what you could shift into?” Lance asked excitedly. Keith frowned and shook his head.   
“Maybe just the one thing. Maybe a few. Shiro really is the best,” Lance’s face almost seemed to drop, but the look faded as quickly as it had appeared.   
“Really? What can he be?”   
“Like a horse. Wolf. Anything big and majestic really. Oh and a kind of… rabbit… thing,” Keith gave a small shrug, and Lance couldn’t help but make a small laugh.   
“A majestic rabbit?”   
Keith stared, “Yeah. A rabbit. This is Shiro after all,” he said slowly, raising his eyebrows at Lance. Lance who held his gaze for a few seconds too long before bursting out laughing. He was wiping away a tear, before h gave Keith this sort of… fond look.   
“You would make a pretty cute rabbit,” he said, and Keith felt all the blood rush to his face. 

They squabbled like that for some time more. Mostly teasing from Lance, and speculation about what animal, or animals, Keith could possibly be. Somehow Keith found himself putting up with it. Somehow, it almost seemed helpful. If it weren’t for the fact he was fairly certain he couldn’t change forms. Not at all. Though Lance was adamant, so much so, that Keith wondered if he had been listening much at all. He had now moved onto focusing on what sort of animals Shiro could turn into, or rather, what they looked like. Keith answered each question with the same sort of shrug and same answer.   
“I dunno. They all just look like Shiro I guess. Kinda bulky, usually black. Often with the white…” he gestured at an imaginary forelock of hair at the front of his head.   
“Sounds cool,” Lance responded with a dreamy sort of smile.   
“Yeah. That’s why they look like Shiro, I guess,” Keith responded with another shrug. It almost felt like a nervous habit, though he couldn’t pinpoint why exactly he felt nervous. Something about Lance. Lance’s face dropped a little, but he quickly shrugged it off. 

“You should really give it a go. I think you could do something awesome if you tried”  
“No. Lance. I really don’t think I can. I’m not…” Keith gave a small shudder.   
“Why? You aren’t what? Good enough? If your glamour is anything to go by, I am certain you are. Seriously,”  
“That is different. Using a glamour to look more human. It’s so different,”  
“Why? I mean I still can’t hardly glamour. I’m lucky enough to not need much, but still. Talk to me,” Lance said it with such earnest that Keith almost wanted to. He wanted to trust him. But when he looked at Lance and opened his mouth to speak, the words got caught in his throat. Lance stared at him for a moment, before turning away.   
“Do you know why I left home to explore?” Lance eventually said, the words sounding heavy. Keith shook his head.   
“I was so, so scared. But I also just wanted to see more I guess. I was the first of my siblings to shift and stuff,” he gave a small laugh, knowing the odd look that Keith now gave him, even without turning to see it.   
“Yeah. I know. They thought I was the prodigy, kinda ironic. But I just got lucky the one time, and let it go to my head. I guess I thought I’d make my family proud if I were able to go to land. Just for a short while. Get them some gifts, bring them some stories and all that. They never knew how much I struggled really. Hunk was the first one to see me stuck in that pool. Then Pidge. Then you. I wonder if my family had known… they might have come looking for me? But now… I don’t know what they might think,” Lance sighed.   
“You should go back. Go visit,” Keith said quietly.  
“And what about our team? Our mission? I might not really have a bayard of use. But I can help. I want to help. After all. If the Galra destroy this forest, what will be next. They might well come for the seas,” Lance wiped at his eyes rapidly, in an attempt to hide some small amount of tears before Keith could see. Keith saw. But didn’t comment.   
“Yeah but. You have a family. They could be missing you and…” dammit now Keith felt like he were about to cry too. It had been so many years, yet sometimes it still felt like the hurt was fresh.   
“Keith…” Lance’s voice was barely above a whisper. Keith found himself searching out those blue eyes, no doubt watering like his own.  
“You still have your family,” was all he could say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again - thanks to everyone leaving comments: they give me life!  
> (even if I never know how/whether to reply to each one >.> I still read and totally appreciate it :D )
> 
> Also you are either too good  
> or I'm too predictable haha


	11. Plans and Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team solidify their plans to spy on the Galra, but need to think of backup when Allura has an idea...

Lance hadn’t thought he would feel any worse.   
But somehow…   
“Oh… Keith,” he said quietly, chewing his lip. Though Keith had not said, the meaning was all too clear.   
“I don’t need your pity. I’m just saying,” Keith said quickly, putting on a brave face. Somehow that made everything worse.   
“Keith if you wanna talk…” Lance said quietly. But Keith shrugged.   
“There’s nothing to talk about. It’s fine,”  
“It clearly isn’t just fine though. I mean. How could that ever really be fine?” Lance came from a huge family. He couldn’t begin to imagine it being any other way. He couldn’t imagine losing any of them either, and the pain of such a thing. What Keith must have gone through, or how he could be feeling. If something happened to any one of his siblings or parents. Cousins and aunts and uncles. Yet Keith had no one at all left for him. A small amount of realisation dawned on him.  
“Is this why you are so close to Shiro?”  
“I don’t know. Maybe? I didn’t have a lot of family growing up. I mean. It was just me and my mum. But I think Shiro could be the closest I’ve had to a brother?”  
Somehow that small admission felt like the world to Lance. Maybe it was a sign that Keith was finally opening up. Maybe it hinted at something else Lance wasn’t yet ready to face. Either way, he felt a bit better.   
“Well. Now we have each other,” Lance started to smile before he noted the blush forming on Keith’s face, and he heard his own words, “I mean the team. Cause we are a team now. And teams are always like dysfunctional families. So you aren’t alone, right?”  
Keith responded with a small smile and nod. 

 

With that, the pair finally left the small patch of forest to go back to the clearing. Neither had any idea how much time had passed, but both felt better for the time spent bonding. Lance didn’t push the whole shifting thing again. Whilst he was certain he should be able to help Keith, he also strongly picked up there was a definite block there. Keith had something he wasn’t saying, and that was stopping him somehow. Lance didn’t want to call it a secret, because it was clearly just something personal, and to call it a secret made it feel shameful. But there was definitely something. Maybe a small step that Lance could push for was to encourage Keith to lift up his glamour. After all, they were entirely safe. No matter how much he might joke, Lance also knew he wouldn’t really care what Keith looked like under the glamour.   
He felt better having some plan of action for helping his buddy when they reentered the clearing. The rest of the team had kept themselves busy plotting out how best to smuggle Shiro and Pidge into the nearest Galra camp, and what back-up plans they need to have if anything went wrong. After all, Shiro had been captured once. He was not going to let it happen again. Or so he was in the middle of insisting when Lance and Keith reentered the conversation.   
“The easiest way to do that would be to not risk it at all. Can’t we go with some other plan?” Keith sidled his way seamlessly into the conversation.   
“This is the best plan we have, Keith,” Shiro tried to reason a little, and the tension within the group seemed to thicken around them, a Keith folded his arms. Lance sidled closer to Hunk and Pidge, trying his best to ignore the small questioning look from either as Shiro began to speak up.  
“Between Pidge’s cloak, and my knowledge of the camp, we could get some really good info here. Just… trust me?” Shiro’s voice went oddly quiet, and as Lance watched Keith, he watched him sigh and nodded for Shiro to continue.   
“Well… what was the backup you guys were planning?” he asked cautiously. Lance found himself also leaning forward in interest. After all, he would likely be part of that backup. He was no sure of how much use he could be as of yet, but he wanted to at least try something.   
“Us and the forest, of course! Each and every tree can be a weapon!” Coran said excitedly, clearing his throat after receiving a short glare from Allura, “Or a shield. Of course. If you get to the forest, we can keep you safe. And we can keep you hidden. The galra… they don’t seem to know of our existence here, so we could use that!” he spoke with a comforting enthusiasm though Keith still looking uncertain.   
“We also planned to have you, Keith, and Hunk waiting to bust in at any time. Of course, again. You would be best to lay low. But if need be, between the shield and sword, you could definitely provide ample cover,” Coran continued. Now Keith looked a bit more pleased.   
“Of course… we would be best suited if we had the use of some sort of ranged weapon,” Coran said, “I offered to throw things but the princess has little trust in my aim…”  
“I... Could try?” Lance offered cautiously, drawing the gaze of everyone, “I mean… I don’t have much experience throwing stuff like this,” he gestured at his human form, “But me and my siblings would play with our cousins. Tossing crabs and catching them and such. I was good at that, so maybe?”  
He heard Keith give a small scoff, and turned a glare in his direction. After their bonding moment he was hoped for less of that. Unfortunately, most of the other paladins appeared to share this sentiment. Not that Lance could blame them. He was about to suggest something else, anything else, when Allura gave him an odd look.   
“Wait Lance… your bayard seed? Could you…?” she asked, her eyes suddenly lighting up with an idea. Lance himself frowned, but did as the princess requested. The long stick was still as before. Curved, and intricately decorated. It was still just as light in his hands, and even had a decent amount of give meaning it wouldn’t even make that good of a spear or whacking instrument.   
“Could you… hold it out for me?” she asked slowly, stepping in when Lance held the stick horizontal to the ground.   
“Now… just tilt like this and…”   
She directed him to hold it out in front of him, arm stretched to its fullest, and at an odd angle from his body. One of his feet was pointed in the same direction, the other straight in front of him. Though he had no idea what he was doing, both Shiro and Coran made small noises of understanding.   
“What?” he asked, him arm starting to tire, “What is it?” he asked, about to lower his arm before a small chorus of   
“No! No no no… “ and Allura had her hands up.   
“If you wanted me to pose for you princess, all you had to do was ask,” Lance said with more confidence than he felt. This seemed enough to jolt everyone into talking, though he was definitely less clear.   
“Is that what I think?” Shiro glanced at Allura who nodded emphatically.   
“I do think so. Coran, do you recognise the flowers now?”  
“Of course, princess. I can’t believe we did not see this before,”  
Ok. Now Lance did lower his arm with a small grumble.   
“Can you please tell me what is going on?”  
Allura turned away from Coran, and looked at Lance with a glint in her eye, and a small smile tickling her lips.   
“Raise it again. And I want you to copy me, alright Lance?” she positioned herself just in his way point, whilst Coran directed his arm once more so that it definitely was not pointing at Allura. Or anyone else. Lance chewed his lip. He opened his mouth to make another nervous joke about Allura showing off in front of him, but thought better of it as she started moving.   
“Ok, I want you to use your fingers like this…” she kind of clawed three of her fingers in front of her, and frowning, Lance copied the motion, He had to suppress a small yelp as he felt something, Like his fingers were actually now touching something. Allura hummed in interest at his sharp intake of breath, but continued her demonstration. And Lance continued to copy her. He gripped what felt like string and slowly pulled back, meeting some small resistance as he did, like the rope was tightening. And as he did so, he started to see is. It seemed just like a glowing blue light, and the further he pulled it back, the more tangible it appeared to be. Allura’s voice was calm as she told him he was doing well, and as she instructed him to somehow take aim at the tree on the other side of the clearing, away from everyone else.  
Her voice remained calm, though he could hear the undercurrents of excitement and pride, as she told him simply to “let go”.   
And he did.   
The rope pinged with a loud twang! And barely a second later, there was a thud the other side of the clearing. 

 

Sticking out of the tree was a glowing arrow, that already started to dissolve in the air.   
Lance lowered his arm, blinking.   
“What?” he asked. His arms were shaking slightly, both from exertion, but also just from the sheer surprise of it all. He turned to face the others, face Allura.   
“What!?”  
“Your bayard. It is a bow. And with that aim,” Allura pointed at the tree which now had a sizable gash in the tree, “I think we have the sharpshooter we might need to give Pidge and Shiro cover!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... it's been a while ^_^;
> 
> Life got in the way a little, and the longer I left this the more guilty I felt...
> 
> but: thanks to past-me for drafting a few chapters making it much easier than I thought to dive back in :)
> 
> Think this chapter is a little shorter, but hopefully the next couple will be a bit longer to compensate (or longer for me, likely still short compared to most I'm afraid >.>)


	12. Cool, Ninja Sharpshooter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins train a little pre-mission

Keith stared as Lance positively bubbled with excitement. The glee on his face was almost contagious as he could barely contain and stop himself from full on bouncing on his feet. Much to Keith’s surprise, however, Lance wasn’t showing off. There was no smugness in his voice, just surprise at his own ability more than anything. The downfall of this meant that there was no way to stop Shiro again. Not that it was up to Keith, but he worried so much. Shiro had lost an arm last time a mission to spy on the Galra went wrong. What if it happened again? Or maybe what if something happened to Pidge? Keith had not known the pixie long at all, but he dreaded to think of what could happen to any of this small group. As Lance had said, they all had each other now to some extent. Losing a part of that…  
Keith just hated the thought of losing more people. 

 

Conversely, he could not deny Lance had some surprising amount of skill with that bow. It was certain that, being a selkie, he had never seen such a weapon. Neither had Keith in reality, though the concept was not unfamiliar. It seemed a very human thing to have, but equally, so was the sword that was Keith’s bayard. As Keith zoned back into the conversation, he found Allura was talking about how she recognised the bow. It had apparently been a fairly common weapon amongst her father’s dryads, once upon a time. With the same decorations and magical arrows. Lance nodded along, still in some amount of awe as he looked a the stick with a new sense of pride. It was not long before Hunk and Pidge were hounding him also, Pidge especially filled to the brim with questions about how it worked, what the bowstring was like. She passed her hands around the bow to feel for it a number of times, and eventually requested Lance show her.   
“I don’t know. If I grab it right like this…” he clawed his fingers once more, and edged them to a very specific place int he air between the two ends of the curved bow, “it is just there. How cool is that, right?” he gave the fingers a quick twitch, the bowstring lighting up ever so faintly as he did.   
Keith was still watching with his arms folded as Shiro came up beside him.  
“Keith… I know you don’t want me to go but…” Keith felt himself being side-eyed, but pointedly tried to ignore the almost pitiful looks he was receiving.   
“But you’ve made up your mind,” Keith snapped slightly, spotting Shiro’s down-turned lips out of the corner of his eye. There was a few beats of silence before Shiro changed topic.   
“Did you get anywhere, even with Lance?” Shiro asked quietly. Keith plainly pretended to know nothing of what he was talking about. He continued staring at the distance, waiting just long enough for Shiro to sound his name again. Shiro always picked up on too much, or at least, he tried to.   
“What do you think. Of course not..” Keith said, trying not to sound too bitter as he did so. He folded his arms defensively, but Shiro merely placed a hand on his shoulder.   
“You’ll get there. I am sure of it,”  
“Why is everyone so sure? For all you know I might not even be capable,” Keith said, blinking his eyes rapidly. He had just been through this. He had just managed to recover his feelings. Now Shiro seemed intent on digging them back up again.   
“Because.. You are a pooka Keith. No matter what you might think. And you are pooka enough…” Shiro never finished his line of thought, because Lance was quickly approaching them, still grinning wildly.   
“Hey! Did you see that Keith! Shiro, you won’t have anything to worry about with me guarding you, right? I mean I might need a bit more practice, but I think I might be good right?”  
Keith felt his face soften slightly, “Yeah. You definitely need more practice. We can’t rely on just your luck to keep everyone safe and covered!” he said back slyly, and Lance pouted in response.   
“Keeeith. Have a little more faith,” he said, before bounding off back to Allura to ask where it would be best to practice. Keith watched him talk emphatically as Allura pointed at places in the woods with clear suggestions. Keith didn’t realise his was still watching Lance until Shiro cleared his throat.   
“You seem to have made a real good, uh… friend… there,” he said slowly, and Keith could hear the brotherly tone to his voice. He looked at Shiro with a slight glare, to which Shiro smiled, and released his hand from his shoulder.   
“I am just saying… you don’t take well to new people. I swear you nearly stabbed me the first time we met,”   
“I did… not,” Keith said slowly ,and Shiro just raised an eyebrow at him, “you startled me. No one else knew about the shack…” he drifted off slowly, tightening his arms across his chest for a moment. He gave a small sigh.   
“You.. Will be careful on this mission though, right?” the tone between them shifted, though Shiro still let out a very small laugh.   
“Of course. I am not letting another pixie get taken under my watch. But if I can do anything to help, I simply have to,”  
“Allura would surely understand,” Keith said, glancing at Shiro.   
“I’m sure she would. But I am not doing this just for her,” he gave Pidge a pointed look, and Keith nodded. Pidge was keen to visit the camp once more to find any sign of her brother. Shiro would likely want to do the same. Him and Matt had been good friends after all, and Shiro had to have some guilt about that. He was not the type to carry it with him but…  
Keith did not know what else to say. So with another strong look, he told Shiro to be careful, before walking away.   
If Lance was going elsewhere to train, it seemed prudent that he did the same. They would not be planning to go invade the Galra camp just yet after all. It was likely too soon after they had escaped, so the camp would likely still be on high alert for anything funky. Especially with the small questions that Keith had about their escape even now. Also, it seemed far too late in the day. The group had agreed perhaps day time would be best. The Galra camp was apparently more active then, contradicting what humans normally behaved like. This only supported the theory that they were definitely up to no good. Also day time meant just finding their way around the camp should be easier in general. Or so they hoped at least.   
This meant the rest of the afternoon, leading into the evening, was free. So training it was. 

 

Keith was not entirely new to bladed weapons, though he had never experience a dagger quite like this one. It seemed sharp across both edges of the blade, meaning it would likely be more versatile. Keith could not quite work out the material either, so he was intrigued as to how sharp it would be. Judging by what Allura had said about how the bayard seed could return to one’s person, it would also make a very suitable throwing knife. Likely no where near as suitable as Lance’s bow, but Keith would feel better if there would be something else he could do for the mission. Which was how he ended up at the same small range-like area Lance had found.   
It was not a true range, per se, not that Keith would have known what one looked like. He had been expecting more empty space, and more targets. It was far more of a just a patch of the forest where the trees were apparently more open to be shot or hit, which sounded bizarre to Keith, but didn’t question Allura. After all, she had fallen out of a tree when they had found her. Perhaps there was more to dryad magic and trees in general he had not been expecting. As he arrived, Keith could see that Lance was already busy hanging up even more targets from the branches. Mostly pieces of fruit and the such that were going spare, and would be pretty obvious if they were hit. Lance nearly fell from his spot in the branches when he spotted Keith, and Keith struggled to hide a smirk. Lance gave him a grin back, before finishing up on the tree he was within, somehow managing to shimmy back down with minimal damage to himself and the forest.   
“Come to watch or?” Lance asked with a grin, but Keith merely answered by flicking his bayard into his hand with a small red flash.   
“Thinking I could try throwing this,” he said as explanation, and Lance’s smile faltered if only for a moment.   
“That’s cool. Guessing this means you are finally accepting of the mission, right?” He turned with his own bayard already in hand, and prepared to aim. Keith knew he should do similar, but wanted to watch just this one shot. After all, the hit Lance had made earlier simply had to be a fluke, right?  
“Not happy really. But yeah. I can see the benefits of more information. And it’s a good plan,” Keith said, watching as Lance let go o the bowstring, and a small squelchy thud followed shortly thereafter. He had hit the fruit first time. Perhaps this was more than just luck. Keith refused to let this distract him as he took aim with the knife and threw it with significantly less success. It thudded into the tree far below the fruit he had been aiming for, and he flinched slightly at the sound. Keith gave a glare to Lance, daring him to make a comment, as he nearly went to go collect the blade, but thought better of it, and tried to call it back to him with the magnetic attraction Allura had mentioned. The knife gave a small wobble from within the tree, before in just a flash of light it returned to Keith’s hand. He smirked successfully, glad to have found a decent enough alternative use for his bayard. It was still clearly sub-par compared to Lance’s bow, and it might have been quicker to collect it from the short distance. But if he could aim a little better, it would certainly come in handy. Keith went to throw the knife again, as Lance also took aim. He was almost enjoying this silence between them, the level of focus it awarded, but the small amount of company. Until he heard another voice speak up.   
“Wait up there number four!”Keith almost dropped the knife as the sudden voice made him jump. Lance alternatively had let go of the bowstring, and as he had also flinched, the magical arrow missed it’s target completely flying off somewhere into the forest beyond.   
“Coraaaaan,” he let out a long whine. Coran ignored him, approaching Keith fast.   
“Number four?” Keith questioned quietly, but seemed to accept this as his new name because Coran did not give much space for anything else.   
“You want to be holding the blade different if you a throwing this. You are lucky the blade did not go straight into the ground before, and only because of the lightweight carbon fibre wood blend the bayard seed is able to replicate!” he spoke quickly, before giving his moustache a quick fiddle. Keith took a step away to give himself a comfortable amount of distance.  
“And you know this because..?” he asked slowly.   
“Why! I once fought side by side with King Alfor himself! Perhaps not side by side in all battles. More just. His side in general life, so I suppose less fighting. Specifics aside. I happened to be very good at throwing knives myself back in the day. Often for entertainment, but it was a skill that came into it’s own on occasion,” Coran spoke with a sort of bravado, and Keith could not help but be somewhat surprised by the man’s ability to apparently throw knives. Even if it were some sort of party trick. He hardly seemed the type to be experienced with any such fighting at all, although admittedly, they had not known each other long at all. 

 

It was not long before the rest of the paladins, and even the princess, had decided to join in on the training session. Either to watch how others were doing, or simply to have a go at various things themselves. Shiro eventually freed Keith from his throwing lessons with Coran with an offer to try sparring. Keith had initially worried about this with his knife, though Shiro assured him that the knife would be harmless against his new arm, so it should provide a good opportunity for both to get some better practice with hand to hand combat. It was not long before he had truly started to exhaust himself, and elected to pick at some of the fruit that had fallen to the ground as a result of Lance’s sharp aim. None of it was quite the best quality, but it certainly felt good to get some sugar and water into his body. And it was not long before he was joined by Shiro and Hunk. Hunk had taken over sparring with Shiro after Keith had given up, taking a more defensive position allowing Shiro to practice his defence. Keith had watched the pair of them go at it for some time. Shiro had nearly exhausted himself whaling on the surface of the shield to no effect, so the pair had elected to take a break.  
“This shield is pretty solid. Like. I can really dig myself into the ground with it and not have to worry about anything getting through!” Hunk said, inspecting a piece of fruit in his hands, and carefully judging the amount of bruising across the surface of the skin. Shiro hummed in response.   
“You might want to get better at moving it around though,” Keith offered, nearly regretting it when he saw the look Hunk gave him, “I mean. You don’t want to get flanked…” he continued, voice going quiet. Perhaps it had not been his place to say… but then Hunk gave him a wide grin, and a sharp pat on the shoulders.   
“Yeah. I reckon you might be right there buddy! Wanna give that a go in a bit?” he suggested. Keith opened and closed his mouth like a fish, before nodding. It would take some getting used to someone as friendly as Hunk. Keith was about to select another piece of fruit before it seemingly vanished before his eyes. He frowned slightly at the spot, before Pidge’s head emerged from her cloak. She grinned mischievously before taking a bite out of the fruit, grimacing at the taste, and tossing it to Keith. She was clearly trying her best at sneaking around with the cloak, and getting used to the notion that, just because people could not see her, did not mean that they could not hear her either. She had also, a number of times, misjudged her own wings, and thus left just her feet in full view of everyone else. Keith eyed the fruit in his lap, wondering if it was still as appealing with a chunk taken out of it, as Pidge vanished again.   
“Ok whoever’s idea it was to let her have an invisibility cloak…” Hunk mentioned with a sigh, before getting up and stretching. He beckoned slightly at Keith, who followed suit, letting the fruit drop to the ground. Pidge hadn’t seemed to like the taste after all. As he stretched, he noted that he was somewhat sore from his sparring with Shiro. He mentioned this to Hunk who gave a short laugh.   
“Good! I might need the handicap!” he said. Keith frowned slightly.   
“The Galra won’t be giving you a handicap,” he pointed out, but Hunk shrugged.   
“Hoping you guys might be able to help if I end up in a fight with any humans,” Hunk protested, before bringing out his hefty shield in front of him. Now Keith got to see first hand how strong the thing was, but also got an idea of how heavy it must have been to move. For Hunk to do as well as he did said a lot about the big guy’s upper body and core strength. He didn’t managed to block everything Keith threw at him, but Keith found himself pleasantly surprised and impressed all the same. Until a magical arrow zoomed past, narrowly missing Keith’s ear, and thudding into the inside of Hunk’s shield as the brownie had not yet turned to defend himself from Keith.   
“Lance!” he cried out in annoyance, as he lowered his shield, inspecting the arrow which now dissolved, “That’s gonna leave a mark!”  
“Not to mention how close it came to leaving a mark in me,” Keith also pointed out. Lance gave them both a sheepish grin.   
“Sorry. I needed a moving target!” he shouted back, lowering his bow and rolling his shoulders.   
“So you were trying to hit me?” Keith countered, and Lance gave a sharp seal-laugh.  
“Were you hit? No. You are completely unscathed,” Lance flashed Keith an even wider grin, and Keith felt himself bristle in response.   
“Just because you missed,” Keith grumbled, just loud enough for Lance to hear.   
“Again, were you hit?” Lance said, with a small wink, and Keith felt the tips of his ears heat slightly. The arrow had been fairly close after all. But intentionally so? Could Lance be that good already?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... about that season 6 ..!!
> 
> It was definitely better than I hoped for in so many ways, even if it were lacking in that juicy Klance I had been hoping for ^_^; (though not giving up hope just yet ;) )
> 
> in terms of formatting... would it be better if I added more spaces?  
> It always looks fine when I edit in Scrivener, but never really check back on AO3 to see if it looks ok... >.>


	13. Returning to the camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the paladins begin their first mission. It can only go well, right?

Lance felt a good balance between surprise and some small amount of pride at his archery skills (a term he had recently learnt from Allura). He seemed to have a good eye for aiming, and though he had yet to tell the others, he found he was able to use his seal whiskers to help pick up on any subtle changes in the wind that might affect the direction of his shots.   
Still, having practice for so long to perfect this technique, Lance found that his entire shoulders and back had begun to ache in ways he could never had imagined. He wanted to get back to his pool and left the water hold him weightless for the night, but also feared that he would then not be able to shift back in time for the mission. 

 

He pondered this dilemma the entire way back to the clearing, where Coran immediately started to prepare the group some food, because "our paladins must only have the most nutritional food". And after a few worried glances from the rest, Hunk quickly went to "help". Lance definitely felt better knowing Hunk would have a hand in their food. The breakfast from that morning had been uninspiring to say the least, and other than bruised fruit, most of them had not had a proper lunch. Hunk, being a brownie, had a natural talent for cooking, and especially in making something amazing out of nothing but scraps. There was likely many a human missing Hunk and his skills, even if he did not do much for fear of discovery. He was so engrossed in his thought and indecisiveness about whether to change back or not, Shiro, of all the faeries, asked him if he were ok. There was something about Shiro that Lance could not quite describe. Other than… he could see why Keith had accepted Shiro as a surrogate for his own family. Shiro reminded him a lot of his sensible elder brother, taking care of the other siblings in a way that Lance, as a precocious middle child, never had to worry much about.

“Oh! Sure thing Shiro. Just ache from all the bow stuff I guess,”

“Well. You did a good job, Lance. In fact everyone did,” Shiro nodded at the rest of the team, who apart from Hunk and Coran, were mostly slumped around exhausted. Only Allura looked perky as she knelt, patiently waiting on food. She smiled at the compliment, and Lance swore Shiro’s cheeks tinged ever so slightly pink. 

“Yes! I had my worries about you as paladins, but I do believe our first mission is likely to be quite the success!” she patted her lap, and Lance felt himself feel slightly more enthused. Doubly so when Hunk and Coran returned with food. Coran brought more words on encouragement as the paladins, including Hunk, began to tuck into their meals. Food was something other than the mysterious food goop Coran had served them for breakfast, therefore went down a lot faster. It was not quite the fish and kelp Lance was used to eating, but definitely filled a hole. And much better than the fruit from earlier. It was so much better than anything, that it finally allowed Lance’s mind to go blank and he ate away his worries and finally took the chance to rest. 

 

In the end, Lance decided to risk sleeping as a seal for the night. The weightlessness the water provided would be so incredibly soothing, and he even started to wonder whether the small pool might have some healing properties. His suspicions were confirmed when Allura suggested that perhaps some of the other paladins bathed themselves, as it would help soothe any muscles and refresh them for the next morning. Lance was not entirely sure how he felt about a bunch of dirty, sweaty fae using his pool to wash themselves in, no matter how much Allura and Coran assured him that the pool would clean itself and be completely and entirely fresh for him to rest in or near. He was eventually won over, but did insist on the others using a different side of the pool, despite knowing it would make absolutely no difference. It somehow felt better like that.   
So the paladins bathing, still partially clothed, and Coran and Allura went to look for more, dry and clean clothes they could wear. Lance shed all of his donated clothes and returned to seal form to join the other. Or most of them. Keith hovered near the edge, folding his arms over his shirt, and giving a small shiver despite the relative warmth of the forest clearing. Lance watched him carefully, Keith watching the other paladins in turn. They all dipped their feet slowly into the water, and Hunk even squealed a little. Apparently he had not been expecting the water to be warm at all, and it was a very pleasant surprise. One that Lance could definitely agree with, though his body was very good at adjusting to water temperatures regardless. 

“It’s like a proper bath!” Hunk cried out, before also spotting Keith hovering on the water’s edge, “come give it a go, really! It might warm you up!” Hunk did not wait on Keith, for which the latter seemed relatively relieved by. Instead he moved to splash Pidge. Even Shiro gave a very small smile, though Lance let out a small cry. He had to sleep here after all! It felt so much like a bunch of wild fae had entered his bedroom and were throwing things everywhere. Hunk gave a small apology, and tried to relax a little more. Still Keith remained hovering at the edge, and even jumped a little when Lance pulled himself up out of the water nearby.

“You know. You did promise to swim with me, with us, right?” he said, glad that the seal fur on his face could hide any amount of small blush. Keith did not seem to have this benefit as he started to go a little pink in the cheeks himself. 

“I don’t think that this counts as swimming, Lance,” he said, raising an eyebrow. Lance made his best attempt as a shrug, which whilst a seal, did not really rely quite the meaning, and looked more like an awkward flail. It still seemed to work for Keith, as he visibly relaxed a little more and tried to fight a smile at Lance’s behaviour. 

“It is close enough, so get in, and I will call us even. I mean. It will be worth it just to stop you smelling so much!” Lance gave a short bark of laughter as Keith went steadily more red, flustering immediately. 

“What?!” he demanded, but Lance was already wriggling back into the water and away from Keith. Once within the safe confines of the warm pool, he made sure to give another bark of laughter, goading Keith. Keith grumbled, but did manage to dip a toe into the water. He clearly intended to take things nice and slow, but between the paladins, any such plans were quickly ruined. Between Lance trying to tease Keith into entering the pool, and Hunk going for another small splash at Pidge, Keith somehow managed to get a face full of water. And he looked none too pleased about it. In fact he seemed about to snap at someone and storm off, before a hearty laugh gave them all pause. Shiro apparently found it hilarious, and was laughing as if his worries were being washed away. Somehow it was contagious and all the paladins, even Keith, found themselves laughing. It also gave Keith the bravery he needed to hesitantly sit just within the edges of the pool of water. He kept to the shallow end, and did not dare go any deeper, but it was enough. 

 

The next morning felt comparatively tense to the relaxing night the paladins had had before. This would be the day of their first big mission, after all. And it felt like so much was riding on their success. They wanted it to go well. Not just because of the information they could get, and how that might help. But also because they wanted to somehow prove themselves to Allura and Coran. Somehow this level of pressure merely helped Lance further with his morning shift. That and how much he looked forward to showing off with his bow, even if he would never admit such a thing. With memories of Shiro’s laughter, and Keith’s wet face at the forefront of his mind, Lance was able to re-imagine Hunk and Pidge splashing themselves and ruining his lovely peaceful pool as he shifted to human form with only a few mis-attempts. There was not time to gloat in his small victory however, as the paladins were soon rushed towards breakfast. As they ate, both Allura and Coran ran them over the plan one more time. 

Pidge and Shiro would infiltrate, Shiro in a “bunny form”. That way they could split if at all need be. Lance would offer any cover fire as needed, with Keith to help out. If things went south, both Shiro and Pidge were to flee, and Hunk could provide some form of shelter as they made it back to the forest. What could possibly go wrong? Lance was optimistic. He was confident in his own shooting skills sure, but he was even more confident in the others and their amazing skills and abilities. By this evening, he was sure they would had a significant amount more information and would be even closer to their goal of somehow taking down the Galra and save the forest from humans in general. Keith did not quite share this positive outlook on the mission ahead. He picked silently at his breakfast, sharing both glares and worried glances with Shiro. He had of course come around to the plan, but in the cool light of the morning, was clearly starting to worry once again. Still, it seemed too late to change much, so they instead discussed once more where they would be. Lance would perch himself on the very same hill they had been on when they firs spotted Shiro, with Keith not too far away,though closer to Hunk if he were needed too. It would also allow them to have a sort of relay. If Lance saw something he thought that Keith or Hunk would need to help with, he would be able to send a very quick message via the wisps that had previously led the group to the clearing, and to Allura and Coran.   
With breakfast finished, the group had no more reason to delay, so set off in relative silence. They were not planning to split until they reached the forest’s edge, intending to approach the camp and hill from slightly different directions as was required. After all, it would be best for Lance, Hunk and Keith to not take any risks in being spotted whatsoever. This also meant that Lance would not get the chance to see Shiro in his rabbit form, a fact he lamented until Shiro pointed out he might well get the chance to see it later. Lance pouted a little, but accepted this, and the promise that Shiro would show him if not. 

As they made their way around the edges of the forest, Hunk tried his best to console Keith. To go over the plan, and describe all the ways in which it would definitely not go wrong. Lance knew the guy well enough to note that he was talking more to hide his own nerves, despite having a relatively small role, and likely nothing at all if the needed did not arise. Which was what they were hoping after all. But he was still a worrier and liked to fuss a little more. Better safe than sorry. If Keith found this annoying, he did not say anything, just merely accepting the plan being repeated again and again in his ear. If anything, it seemed to have a calming effect which Lance was grateful for too. In some way he had perhaps been more worried about Keith than the rest of the mission. And though he had joined them in the pool yesterday, he had never truly relaxed like the rest. Lance knew there was something unspoken then, some level of fear, but did not know how best to bring that up. 

Now definitely did not seem to be the time, as they were currently hurrying out of the forest, and up the hill. First to say goodbye was Hunk. He stayed just about in sight of the Galra camp, but without the vantage point that either Keith or Lance would have. He was there for Pidge and Shiro to find with ease, if things went south.

Next, Lance left Keith on the hill. They were still just about in sight of Hunk, but nowhere near enough to talk. 

“I hope we won’t need it… but good luck, ok? And keep yourself safe,” Lance said, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder for the most brief of moments. He did not wait for a response before turning on his heel, and rushing up the hill himself. He would perch at the top, and from here, he could see the very edges of the forest where Pidge and Shiro should be waiting. He drew back his bow to fire what he hoped would be the only shot necessary for this plan - the sign that they were in place, and Pidge and Shiro were safe to enter the camp. He watched the blazing blue arrow soar through the air, and with his own heart soaring in response, watched it hit the tree successfully. He saw a shape, likely Pidge, flicker for just a moment. That was the only sign he got that Pidge and Shiro were on their way towards the camp. From here, he would not see anything until they were in trouble most likely. 

 

Lance had expected his job to be boring, and had sort of hoped for that. After all, if he had to get involved, it meant that things were not going entirely to plan. Still, his viewpoint was not as entirely boring as he had been expecting. In fact, it seemed rather interesting, keeping an eye out for very small signs of where Pidge and Shiro had found themselves in the camp. It was not long before he saw the flap of a tent move without anyone nearby. And then a very small black creature, likely a rabbit, appeared just at the very bottom of the flap, peering out. It seemed like Shiro and Pidge had found something worth investigating. Lance leaned forward, as if it would enhance his viewpoint. It did not at all, but he felt better doing it. Felt better keeping at eye on Shiro hovering. And on the flap. He was so engrossed in them that he hardly noticed a pair of humans fast approaching the tent. It was only when Shiro seemed to duck inside to warn Pidge that he truly noticed. But then Shiro would be too late. The tent only had one flap.   
Lance had to make a decision. 

With a deep breath, and a very brief moment of panic, he decided. He pulled back his bowstring, and did his job as planned. Aerial distraction. The two Galra soldiers that had been approaching the tent froze and turned. This managed to give Pidge and Shiro enough time to duck out of the tent, though Lance’s cover was partially blown. The Galra soldiers below were now rushing around, but thankfully Lance’s arrow vanished before any of them could truly discover what it was, and where it came from. This he knew he could definitely use to his advantage, but without being able to see where Pidge had gone made it hard to know where he should be deflecting attention to. So he paused to watch, starting to regret having fire at all. People seemed on high alert now, and he still could not catch a glimpse of Shiro or Pidge until…. There! The corner of a tent flap moved, just in time for a Galra soldier to move past. The soldier paused, clearly having heard or spotted something so Lance took the opportunity. He pulled back the bow once again, and fired another shot. Just enough to catch the Galra’s eye, and he was on the move. Letting go of his held breath, Lance watched the tent flap move again, presumably as Pidge and Shiro snuck out. 

From there things seemed to be going just about fine. They just about seemed to be making their escape. Lance breathed a sigh of relief, and nearly withdrew his bow into seed form completely. That was until another Galra human rounded a blind corner, so fast that even Lance had missed him. And though he could not see Shiro or Pidge, he saw the Galra soldier move at full speed into some invisible object. The cloak shifted just enough to reveal a large portion of Pidge, and their cover was blown. Lance yelped, knowing now would be the time to send the message via the wisps to Keith. But if he could be quick enough, if he could stop this one human from calling any sort of alert, Pidge and Shiro could flee. Only this time, he might have to aim his shot at the human themselves, giving Pidge the chance to flee. Lance had yet to his an actual person with the arrows. And though his aim ought to have been true, his nerves were not. The arrow flew wide of his target, missing the man, and startling him into raising the alarm. Lance cursed himself, but did not have time for regret as he now needed to send the signal to Keith and Hunk via the wisps, down the hill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for slow update... I keep meaning to update more, but life always gets in the way and I'm just a terrible person xD


End file.
